Reflections From The Past To The Future
by AliraJasmine
Summary: Alira and Hop are being called back to the Slumbering Weald by some strange pulling in their souls, and they set out with just themselves, their camping equipment and teams to follow the pulling, going very deep into the woods. Where long-forgotten memories of humans and pokemon alike sleep, where old grudges are restlessly slumbering, and secrets won't stay hidden for very long...
1. Calling

**AN: Canon can and will be bent, broken or changed as the story progresses! You have been warned! Set in an altered version of the main and postgame of Pokemon Sword!**

Alira began walking into the Slumbering Weald with little hesitation, mind elsewhere, as she let her feet take her where whatever was pulling was her deeper into the weald. She couldn't stop thinking about Zacian and Zamazenta, or the rusted sword in her grip that was too familiar in her hands.

It felt like she was being called to somewhere in these woods, and she had to heed the call. The champion didn't have much to do anyway, after beating Leon, then taming Eternatus in the vast fields outside her home town as she didn't dare risk taking it out of its ball in town as it was _massive_, she didn't have much to do nowadays other than taking care of her pokemon, avoiding her so-called manager and reporters, or messing around with Hop, or…

Her gaze drifted down as she brought her hand up, peering at the rusted sword she held so confidently in her grip. Its familiarity almost hurt as she didn't know why it felt so _right _that she was holding it, but she never saw it before that day when she had to retrieve it with the shield from these very woods with Hop to summon Zacian or Zamazenta to help fight Chairman Rose and Eternatus.

She had spent god knows how long studying it, and trying to figure out why it felt like it belonged with her, with little results.

But now, she woke up with something calling her back to the weald, where this all truly started after she got her starter Nova, and she answered the call once the sun had descended beyond the horizon and the moon rose and took its place.

Most wild pokemon didn't bother her, the sheer presences they felt from the pokeballs in her bag was enough to keep them at bay, and the fact Nova's ball was clipped onto the strap of her bag for easy reach made the few who were going to bother her think twice, and if not, Nova made sure they got the hint.

Her feet took her down the familiar path with ease, knowing what turns to take and what fork in the paths to walk, and soon she was back at the shrine, and…

"Hop?" she spoke, voice calling out softly in the nighttime air and Hop jumped and spun around out of surprise, having been standing in front of the shrine.

"Huh?! Alira!?" he yelped, eyes wide as the girl walked up to him. "What're you doing here in the woods?"

"Well, I felt like something was calling me here honestly." She fiddled with her bangs, noting she was due for a trim either by a hairstylist or herself(She had a Wooloo so she had the shears in her bag she used to trim him when his fur was getting so long it was hurting him) before folding her hands together in front of her.

"Something was calling you here?" He tilted his head before looking away. "That's, mate that's pretty uncanny."

Now it was her turn to tilt her head as he continued. "I felt like something was calling me here too." He paused. "I've been thinking, you know… About those visions we had, and maybe the reason Zacian and Zamazenta chose this place to sleep. No one comes here; the fog is so dense you'd only know the way by memory like you and me, so it must be so quiet all the time." "He looked back at her. "Do you think the two heroes of old picked this place for them, knowing they would be left alone until we came along?"

Alira furrowed her brows, slightly confused as she tilted her head at her best friend. "What do you mean?"

"Alira, whenever I hold this," He pulled the rusted shield from his bag with care, and without hesitation slipped it on his arm, his expression furrowing and the look in his eyes showed he didn't mean to do that. "I just do that, I don't mean to but it feels, right, like it _belongs _with me. You got that with that sword don't you." He eyed the rusted sword in her hand and she looked down at it, it wasn't a question, because he knew her well enough to know the answer.

"Yeah, I do." She raised it up to the light, peering at it. "It's so strange."

"Do you think, we could be descended from the heroes from the legends?" He raised his arm with the shield up to the light as well. His words made her gaze snap to him with shock as he met her eyes.

"Well… I doubt Zacian and Zamazenta would come to the aid of just anyone." She spoke hesitantly. "And those visions we've had, and.." Her mind instantly flashed back to the fight with Oleana, where something really strange happened.

_Alira was giving an order to Widgyt, blood rushing in her ears and heart racing as this battle was not a normal one. No, Oleana had a look in her eyes that set the young trainer on edge. "Widgyt, use nuzzle and paralyze that Millotic! Then use wild charge!"_

_The Boltund's tail wagged as she heard her trainer's command and rushed to do so, while Alira faintly heard Oleana give a order, one that made her gaze snap from the millotic to the trainer._

_"Milotic use surf but aim behind the boltund!"_

_She, that crazy witch, she was having it target-_

_"ALIRA!" Hop screamed as the surf sailed past Widgyt, heading right for the girl as she braced herself the best she could, she had never gotten hit with a pokemon move all her life but it seemed she soon would be finding out how bad it hurt._

_She closed her eyes and tensed, but the pain never came. Instead arms wrapped around her, seeming to shield her as her eyes snapped open._

_Hop was shielding her with his body, she could see his back and the strong smell of wooloo fur mixed with rain rang out to her senses but she ignored it, as her gaze was locked on the surf move. It was being held back by, some sort of shield between them and the move, blocking it from hitting them._

_Hop turned his head, confused as to why he wasn't getting hit with the move and his jaw dropped, gobsmacked at the move being blocked by some weird transparent shield._

_Thankfully, the move quickly dropped away as Widgyt hit her target with a resounding howl, first the nuzzle hit and then spinning on her paws to ram into the water type, electricity arching across her body as wild charge took affect and sent her opponent flying, the Miloitc shrieking as it fainted and the battle was over. With the threat gone the shield disappeared with a shimmer, leaving the two eighteen-year-olds dumbstruck and confused as to what just happened for a brief moment before remembering what they were here for and refocused._

"When that, shield showed up as you shielded me." She fiddled with the strap of her bag absently with one hand. "I don't think it's a mere coincidence that it showed up and you picked that shield when we came here for Zamazenta and Zacian's aid, or I picked the sword." Her brows furrowed at that, a reminiscing gleam reflecting in her eyes as she gazed at the sword.

That got Hop's attention. "What do you mean?" He asked as she held the sword higher, tilting it just so in a manner she seemed familiar with.

"You don't know one of the reasons me and mom moved here ten years ago, do you?" Her voice was soft as her gaze tilted down, drifting to meet his as her lips turned downward slightly.

"No." He shook his head, brows furrowing. "Whenever I asked, you started crying really bad, me and Wooloo had to calm you down so I eventually stopped asking."

"Well, one was as a result of my brother." Now she had a frown on her face even as Hop gazed at her with surprise. "I know I've never mentioned him before, but for good reason, he's in prison right now and it was thanks to me, and the weird see-through sword that I summoned to fend him off." She breathed in deeply. "I shant speak of what he tried to do to me, I've put it out of my mind and would rather it banished from my memories, but I remember I managed to stun him with that weird sword and managed to run to the police station in town, got him arrested. Couple that with the other reasons I won't get into and we really needed a change of scenery, so here we came and stayed."

"Alira…" He reached over with the hand that had the shield on his arm and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She gave him a weak smile, it not quite reaching her eyes. "It's fine, really, I'm over it." She breathed deeply before shaking her head. "Regardless, I picked the sword and I don't think it was happenstance." Her expression then shifted to a shocked look as she recalled something. "Wait, I just recalled something."

"What?" He watched as she lowered the sword slightly, furrowing her brows.

"I remember mom said one of her dads, her step-dad Buddy, she once said he tracked the bloodline of her family back centuries." Her gaze was darting about, not in a nervous manner but one that showed her mind was running a thousand miles a minute. "Her mother, the witch burned all the documents after he died, but mom said he tracked it back to medieval times, that they had ties to as of yet unknown royal family from a unknown place, as Galar hadn't been discovered then." Her gaze snapped back to Hop's. "You think that it's possible or I'm just reaching?"

"Well, I don't know, but we never know honestly!" He grinned at her. "When it comes to stuff that happened THAT far back, it's hard to be certain of much without any sort of, uh, family tree book to track it."

"Heh, true." She smiled, genuinely now. "I wonder if the two heroes ruled in a castle in these woods." She looked around. "I doubt they'd help Zacian and Zamazenta find a place to sleep for centuries without it being someplace nearby their castle."

"If that's the case, it's no wonder no one's found the castle they ruled from, these woods are covered from top to bottom in fog, it covers the top of the trees and several miles above that even." Hop looked around as well. "I had to do a report on it several years ago for school so I found that out."

"Oh gosh." Alira's eyebrows raised, almost hiding under her bangs. "Well that would explain why no one's explored this place. Zamazenta and Zacian make sure of that." She mused, thinking of the first time that they saw the two legendary pokemon over a year ago and how they seemed to make the fog thicker.

"And why this place is the clearest area of the whole forest." Hop let his hand fall from Alira's shoulder, thinking for a moment. "Think it's close by or something?"

"...Strangely enough," She began, lowering the sword to her side as her signature half smile appeared on her face. "I get the feeling it is at least somewhere in this forest. Don't ask me how but I'm fairly certain it's in these woods somewhere."

"Well, how about we try to find it?" Hop's grin was infectious and he seemed to be getting excited. "I mean, this season for the Gym challenge is over right? You have some time before the next one so you don't need to worry about challengers wanting to battle you."

"Yep, that I do, and I've no fondness for the reporters swarming me." She grinned back as he put the shield away in his bag, putting the sword away in her own bag before adjusting the straps. A habit of being on the road for so long during the challenge left her with the little quirk of adjusting them, as well as always having her camping equipment in her bag. "Up for it? We don't know how long it'll take."

"You bet I am!" He all but jumped in the air as he responded. "This could be the adventure of a lifetime and finding this castle sounds exciting!"

She giggled, and offered him her hand. "Let's go then! No time like the present!"

"Yeah!" Hop took her hand without hesitation and it wasn't long before the two nineteen year olds bolted back the way they came before completely veering off the path they originated from and further into the forest, knowing they were headed in the right direction as the faint howls of Zamazenta and Zacian rang out in the quiet forest air.

_And so off the two heroes of Galar went, looking for something long lost to history as their footsteps followed the path their souls lead them on._

**AN: Hope you enjoyed this so far! :) Might be posting the oneshot that was briefly mentioned(the visions Hop mentioned) later in a separate story, dunno yet! :3**


	2. Glimpses and Reminisce

**AN: Kindly don't spam my reviews with unrelated things, I don't have all the time in the day to read through spam nonsense that is a sockpuppet or bot or something that looks to be copypasted when I have better things to do. Like writing this story! :D**

The fog was as thick as ever, making navigation difficult but that didn't stop Alira or Hop. They kept going, minding their feet and yanking each other out of the way of any trees they almost walked into.

Though as it was nighttime when they set out, it wasn't long before they began to feel the adrenaline wearing off, so they searched for a clearing to rest in.

Soon they found one large enough to accommodate both of their tents and began setting camp. Hop got his tent set up rather quickly, coming out of his tent to hear a "oh are you kidding me" from where Alira was to see while the entrance to her tent was already set up, the rest was sort of caved in on top of her if the lump of moving fabric was any sign.

"You alright Alira?" He fought back chuckles as he walked over and knelt down, peering past the flaps with a hand to see her on her rear, holding up the wire mesh and fabric with an arm. He couldn't help but quip. "Having fun in there mate?"

"Not really no." She remarked sarcastically with a chuckle, shaking her head. "I must look ridiculous."

"Here, let me help." he crawled in alongside her, and quickly got the wire mesh and metal parts set up. Soon the tent was quickly set up and off of Alira's head.

"Thank you." She smiled as she sat up properly, no longer leaning back on her bag awkwardly now.

"Not a problem mate." he smiled back before crawling out of the tent, Alira soon following him and helping him set up the foldable tables next to each other and fire firepits, soon putting their pots over the currently unlit bundles of wood.

"Okay, now to just.." Alira trailed off as she reached up and grabbed Nova's pokeball, releasing Nova soon after and the fire type trilled in greeting to her trainer and waved at Hop when she saw him while he laid out a blanket to sit on.

"Nove, you mind helping us with the fire?" Alira asked and Nova shook her head, the rabbit pokemon walking over and lightly tapping on the first firepit with a foot, a small fire lighting up within moments as Alira and Hop sat on the blanket.

"Those little yellow dots of yellow fur on the bottom of her feet can actually fire, well, fire from them if she wants, I think that's how she does her pryo soccer ball." Alira explained to a starstruck Hop as Nova lit the other fire then went and sat near her trainer.

"That's so cool!" Hop gushed as he and his best friend released their pokemon from their balls so they could stretch their legs.

"Just a little thing I noticed about her." Alira smiled sheepishly, watching as her pokemon mingled with Hop's without a second thought.

"But you've always been good at noticing the little things like that," He continued, noticing with amusement in the background that his Corviknight picked up Alira's Alrcremie, Willowya, by the scruff of her neck and put her on the back of Dubwool. Presumably to keep her out of trouble or out from underfoot. "I don't know how you do it."

"Neither do I to be perfectly honest?" Her half-smile pulled at her expression as her brow furrowed. "I just do it without thinking." She reached up and scratched at her very short hair, soon continuing with. "You always know what do to calm down an upset pokemon, I never would've been able to calm Shiro so we could heal him if it weren't for you."

"Heheh." Hop scratched at his warming cheek with his index finger. "I just have a way with pokemon. I mean I got Dubwool as a wooloo when I was five because I managed to sneak out of the house and Leon later found me surrounded by a lot of cuddly wooloos, five year old me being on top of mine fast asleep. Leon caught wooloo for me after that."

"Awww." She beamed at him, smiling fully now. "Imagining a itty bitty adorable Hop ontop of Wooloo-"

"Alira-!" He choked out a flustered laugh as she kept going, turning his face redder by the second.

"-Surrounded by hundreds of wooloos, it's adorable~!" She giggled, grinning teasingly at him. "That is such an adorable image, thank you Hop." She then got a little gleam in her eyes he recognized as playful as she then pointed at him. "You are too adorable sometimes Hops!"

"And you are too humble sometimes Alli!" He pointed back at her, laughter bubbling in his chest as she gained a mock offended look, and before he knew it she lunged at him, smacking into him with a laugh as she tackle-hugged him in the chest.

He laughed back and tightly held her close as she snuggled into his chest, both idly noting their pokemon's chuckling in the background as he placed his chin on top of her head while she giggled.

"...Gods, I missed this." Alira softly mumbled once her and Hop's laughter subsided, tightening her grip on him.

"Missed what?" Hop shifted slightly, still holding her close.

"Being able to act like this, and not mind what I say or do when out and about or worry about people swarming my camp." She mumbled into his shirt, honesty ringing in her words.

"Is being a champion that restrictive?" He wondered, Leon always seemed to act however he wished from what he saw, so he wondered if it was different for her.

"Well, it is right now when everything about me is just, being broadcasted everywhere in Galar due to still recently becoming champion. Leon says it'll lessen and I'll get more freedom once it dies down, but..." She refused to look up at him, keeping her face buried in his chest. "It's... _weird _and uncomfortable. _I'm not..._" Her grip on him tightened.

He brought a hand up and rested it on the back of her head, hearing a worried "Gal, gallade?" from across the camp before looking over and seeing her Gallade, Calethorne, looking over at them with concern. Hop waved a hand slightly, making the Blade pokemon narrow his eyes slightly before nodding.

"It's all the people bugging you, right?" Hop responded, carding his fingers through her hair as she nestled deeper against his chest.

"_Yes._" She responded, her hands digging into the back of his jacket. "I'm lucky Cale and Nova tend to fend off the reporters and anyone wanting to swarm me when I'm just trying to get something from a cafe. It's _weird and strange I don't get it_ and I don't do well in crowds, I get overloaded there's also so much _noise _and my so-called manager-" She cut herself off with a huff. "He's ticked I won't let him have access to my Fletchtter and Pokegram and Monbook, he wants to take over posting things for me and-UGH."

She groaned. "It wouldn't be me posting if he took over and that bugs me but _he doesn't get it-_" The rate she was speaking increased until she was speaking rapid-fire, a trait Hop knew meant she had been worked up over this for a while.

"Hey hey." He spoke softly, halting her rapid speech and he made sure to gently pet her hair to help her untense. He knew her long enough to know how to calm her down when she got worked up, and knew why it bugged her. "I get that, you don't need to explain it to me."

It worked, she relaxed and she sighed. "You're the only one who does..."

"Well, you're my best friend, if I didn't know you better than them or get you that'd be a shock." He felt her smile against his shirt and grinned in response.

"And you're _my __very__ best friend~_" She giggled warmly and he snuggled her closer, chuckling and enjoying the light squeak she let out. They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying being close to each other, until a light yawn escaped Alira.

"We should probably make some dinner for everyone then head off for the night." Hop noted and Alira nodded, untangling from each over and reaching over to their bags.

Within ten minutes they both were at their respective pots, cooking curry for their teams, and in around ten more minutes they finished cooking and soon plated enough servings for their teams and themselves.

After everyone ate and the trainers put their teams to bed, the two decided to do something they often did while growing up. They laid down on the blanket and stared up at the murky sky above, only faintly able to see the moon through the fog.

"...Too bad the fog prevents us from being able to see the stars." Alira mused idly, holding a hand up to the sky. "We'd probably be able to see more constellations out here than in town."

"Just because we can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there." He smiled, holding a hand up to the sky as well. "Plus we've looked at the sky so much we can just imagine we're seeing them."

"True!" She smiled, noticing then that the hand she was holding up, her left one, had the gym challenger glove she still never took off even after becoming champion, while Hop's had no such glove.

Before she could comment on it, Hop asked. " Hey, out of curiosity, why is your glove on your league card on your right instead of your left if you always wear it on the left?"

"Oh? Well. Bit of my manager being a prude." She shrugged. "He threw a right fit when he found out I was left handed for some reason, I don't know what mind you, and had me reshoot my card to have it on the right hand. It was irritating as my left 'handy-ness' is going to show up in battles anyway, but thankfully I got in contact with the card producers and the next run they'll have the correct, if a little older, picture with it on my left hand."

"...That's weird." Hop commented and Alira laughed. "Like, really weird."

"I know! I don't get my so-called manager at all." She grinned light-heartedly. "He reminds me of a teacher my mom mentioned having when she was young, smacked her with a ruler if she wrote with her left hand. _Weeird _people."

"With an apparent dislike for lefties." Hop snorted, shaking his head. "I mean, you and your mum are from Sinnoh which is practically half the world away from 'ere, but that's just strange."

"Strange is as strange does." She hummed back, eyes squinting up at the sky. "Hey, look!"

"What the…?" The fog was parting just the slightest, allowing the night sky to peer through and letting the duo see the countless stars scattered across the endless midnight blue sky.

"Wow…" Alira breathed out. "There's so many…"

"Yeah…" He agreed, starstruck, no pun intended, as he whispered. "You think it was the wind moving the fog or…?"

"...Dunno, I'm not gonna look a gift ponyta in the mouth." She smiled and put a hand under her head, pointing with the other hand. "Look, there's rapiddastarios!"

"There's zappio!" He pointed as well to another constellation in the sky. "And Lucarius!"

They spent a fair amount of time picking out and finding constellations they both knew or didn't, though that leads to the two forgetting to join their pokemon in their tents and eventually falling asleep right there on the blanket.

Their respective partner pokemon came out their tents after some time, wondering where their trainers were and came face to face with the sight of their trainers fast asleep on the blanket.

Nova facepawed while Rillaboom merely shook his head in amusement, the two humans had even curled up next to each other in slumber. Alira had curled up against Hop's side, her ear resting on the side of his jacket while her arm was thrown over him, and Hop loosely had his arms around her shoulders. The boy was laying slightly above her on the blanket so their height difference wasn't notable, otherwise the pokemon were sure their positions would be swapped.

_The adorable cuddling was probably out of need for warmth,_ Nova reasoned in her head, though she did shoot her trainer a deadpan look as another thought crossed her mind. _If not, are you really that dense even to yourself my friend?_

With that, Nova stepped up, bent over and wrapped her arms around her trainer's waist before she began to carefully pull the girl away. What the fire type did not expect was for Alira to groan minutely in sleep and tighten her grip on Hop.

Nova shot Rillaboom a "freaking HELP ME PLEASE" look and the grass type restrained chuckling at the rabbit's expense before moving close and grabbing his trainer. With that they began to try to pull their trainers apart, which was made difficult when _Hop _tightened his grip on Alira and dug his hands into her jacket.

Nova huffed, narrowing her eyes at the offending hands and removed one paw from Alira's waist and tried to pry one of his hands off her jacket.

The rabbit and gorilla pokemon froze as the two humans shifted, still thankfully asleep but they shifted closer to each other. The pokemon shared a deadpan look and silently sighed. This was going to take some doing.

Almost twenty minutes later, after a lot of panicked freezings and panic induced heart pounding when the humans made noses or so much as twitched, they managed to _finally _separate the two trainers. With a relieved breath, Nova picked up her trainer, Rillaboom doing the same with Hop, and the two returned to their respective tents.

Nova set Alira on her sleeping bag before settling beside her trainer, sleep soon claiming the pokemon after the ordeal that was prying her trainer from Hop.

* * *

_Alira dreamed she was walking through the slumbering weald, fog nowhere in sight, revealing how magical it truly was with little colorful fairy lights flickering in and out of sight, but something was different about her._

_Her hair was longer for one, reaching her waist, and at the ends curled into ringlets, and she wore a dress with long, large sleeves that covered her hands and arms with boots that reached her thighs._

_"I dare say Heather," A familiar voice began to her left and she turned her head, meeting the golden amber gaze of Hop, but it was different with him too. His hair was so much longer at the base of his hairline, having a medium length ponytail while the rest of his hair was short, and he wore attire fitting of a noble._

_"I have NEVER seen so many nobles turn green than when you introduced yourself to the other lords and ladies and rulers of this land and continent." 'Hop' continued, laughing freely while she felt a weak smile tug at her expression. "It was the most amusement I've had for ages!"_

_"Well…" Her voice was whisper-like, so very quiet and soft. "When you're the bastard daughter of king Ulric of Kanto, one who's not known for letting any bastards live and is ruthless to his enemies, I surely garnered some fearful stares if my father couldn't put a bastard like me out of living as it is."_

_"Now, none of that 'bastard' nonsense my dear Heather." He placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her close, still walking as she felt her shoulders stiffen, expecting pain but why- "You are a very lovely young lady, and a clever one too, for you figured out where to find that wizard so we could stop the darkness long before I did, and we found Zen and Zacia again in his care as well!"_

_"Lord Acaeus-" She began, feeling red creeping up her neck at his praise as her shoulders relaxed._

_"Nope! Not lord, just Acaeus or Ace." He smiled gently at her. "We are the saviors and king and queen of this land after our actions several moons ago my dear, formalities you can forget."_

_"...You are the strangest prince I've ever met, and I served quite a few lords as a maid before I found Zacia." She shook her head, smiling softly. "Very well my friend. It shall take me a long while to get accustomed to these strange circumstances, but I shall do my best to forgo formalities with you, Lor-,erm...Ace."_

_"That's the spirit!" He beamed at her before grabbing her hand and bolting ahead, pulling her along as he continued. "Now let's go get Zen and Zacia, I heard from queen Milisandia of Unova that some strange black and white dragons are causing her kingdom a mighty deal of havoc, and they aren't alone either, they have human partners like Zen and Zacia with us!"_

_"Oh my gods!" Heather gasped. "We need to go and help her so her newborn kingdom isn't razed to the ground and the other kingdoms don't catch wind of this then!"_

* * *

Alira woke up to being cuddled into something fuzzy and furry, with a groan she pushed off who she soon found to be Nova, still 'dead to the world' as her mother would call it asleep. The fire type had clearly been cuddling her and Alira had to push and shift out of the cinderace's hold to sit up.

"Ugh…" She scratched at her hair, idly noting it was sticking up in places, the dream she had lingering in her mind, and she stretched, mumbling. "What on earth was that strange dream all about..?"

She sighed, reaching over to her bag as she let her mind wander and think about the dream she had. She was a girl named Heather, and there was a guy who looked like Hop, but wasn't him? And the pokemon they mentioned… Zen and Zacia? Were they talking about Zamazenta and Zacian?

Ugh, her head twinged, she was not awake enough to properly figure the weird dream out, and then she noticed she had pulled the sword from her bag. She furrowed her brow, that had happened far too many times in the months since she got it for her to brush off.

She could recall the feeling she got the first time she laid eyes on it, nerves having been set on fire due to the disaster at the league thanks to Chairman Rose and panic lit in her veins, something clicked in her soul and beckoned her to pick it up.

When she picked it up and held it in her grip, a strange wave of calm ran over her and her nerves settled almost instantly. That feeling and calm persisted every time she held it, heck, she even held it shortly before her match with Leon several days later because she simply couldn't calm down her nerves and needed to be able to think clearly.

She wouldn't say she was dependant on it per se, she didn't constantly have it out in her grip before a battle, but she also didn't ever leave home without it.

She studied the runes on it's blade, trying to figure out what they said once again, but considering it was missing around over half the sword's original length according to people she talked to online regarding it(With a false identity, of course, she did not want to be swarmed with replies if it was found out who she was), that would be next to impossible.

She ran her fingers along the guard, feeling the dirt and grime that built up over the centuries it surely sat in the ruined shrine, and absent-mindedly reached into her bag with her other hand and grabbed the cloth and special cleaner she had ordered a while ago.

She dabbed the cloth with the cleaner and then carefully began to clean the one side of the broken blade first, she had taken great pains and efforts to get advice from actual blacksmiths and historians on how to restore or at least clean an ancient blade(and shield, as she knew Hop might want to clean his shield up) like this and got recommended this certain cleaner that wouldn't damage it or Hop's shield.

Her movements stalled for a second, eyes narrowing at what she called that rusted shield Hop had. She just referred to it as _his _in her head, not _the _rusted shield or _Zamazenta's _shield, _**his **_shield. She'd been doing that with the sword as well, more often than not she had to catch herself when thinking or talking about it from referring to it as _hers_.

It was _Zacian's_, not hers, so what on earth was her problem?

Lost in her thoughts as it were, she almost didn't notice she had nearly completely cleaned this side of the blade and had instinctively moved on to cleaning up the guard, the cloth being quite dirty now from cleaning the blade up.

She peered at the runes now, letting her hand continue to clean the guard while she tried to figure out what they said now that it was cleaned up. She had managed to get an answer at least regarding what language it was in when she posted it online, ancient royal Galarian, but due to it still being dirty she didn't get a translation, though now she had cleaned it up she could make out what it said.

Her mind ran through the alphabet she had looked up and memorized and after a moment, she squinted and mumbled. "...Of our legacy…?"

Yeah, that's what they said, something "_of our legacy_", what came before that she had no clue, she didn't have the missing half of the blade.

She softly groaned and finished cleaning the guard before putting it back in her bag. She had to get up and make breakfast for everyone and grabbed her bag before crawling out of her tent.

* * *

_Hop dreamed he was training with the sword in some field, sword clashing and slashing at his opponent without much room for error as he stared a man with golden hair and green eyes down._

_"__Roderick, don't you think you're being paranoid?!" He managed to shout over the clanging of swords, bringing his shield up to block a particularly strong attack from his retainer._

_"Not at all my prince! With the number of enemies we have, and the new land we are standing on, you need to defend yourself if you want to survive!" Roderick replied back, arming to knock Hop's sword out of his hand as he struck his sword forward, but Hop rushed forward with a yell, shield tilted just so and he pushed up with a jolt, knocking the sword out of his retainer's hand with the edge of his shield._

_"I.. already… know… how to defend myself!" He gasped for air as he put his sword at Roderick's throat, gritting his teeth. "Need I prove my point more? I'm not helpless like my parents think I am."_

_"No, no need for that." Roderick backed up and once it was clear the training fight was over, Hop dropped the sword as if it burned him and kicked it away._

_"You're going to need to get over that if you're going to be a proper prince Acaeus." Roderick noted as the prince adjusted how his shield was on his arm._

_"What? My dislike for weapons I've seen used for _

_murder__?" Hop-Acaeus' gaze and tone were flat and borderline venomous. "I don't see the point of being a prince if one uses violence to get things done."_

_Roderick sighed and began to speak, but Hop-Acaeus ignored him and began walking off, shouting over his shoulder. "Don't bother following me! I'm going for a walk and I desire to be alone with my thoughts!"_

_He walked, regardless of what his retainer was shouting, and eventually, the shouts died down as he entered the forest._

_Fairy lights and lightning bugs lit the air of the woods as he walked, shifting his shield onto his back as he kept moving. Deeper and deeper into the woods, as he saw pokemon he had never seen before walking around. Some ran from him, but most saw he had no visible weapon and seemed just confused._

_Soon he came across a clearing with a pond, it was dazzling really, but his ears caught the sounds of whimpering and his gaze snapped around before finding what was the cause of the whimpering and rushing over._

_It was a dog pokemon, it's fur was mainly red and blue with cream accents, but it was clearly very young, it looked to be mildly smaller than those yellow lightning dogs, the bolt hounds, running around elsewhere in this land. It's red and yellow eyes were glazed over in pain, largely due to the wound it had in it's side as it lay on the ground and kept it from moving._

_"You poor thing…!" He knelt down, the wound was serious and already a small pool of blood was on the ground, thankfully it seemed to be a mere flesh wound as no bones could be seen but it had to have hurt, it looked like a small dragon had taken a chunk out of this poor thing's side._

_He couldn't risk moving it, not with it in that condition, so he took a deep breath and prepared to attempt a healing spell he had one of the healers in the camp teach him. He put his hands over the wound and began to chant softly. "Spirits of life and gods of the world, heed my words and let me heal this poor creature, mend this wound!"_

_A green glow came from his hands at his words, and soon the wound was healed like it was never there and it definitely took a weight off this poor pokemon as it looked at him blearily._

_"__It's alright my friend, you're safe now." He smiled at it, stroking it's back fur gently and he swore he heard a "_Thank you…_" __in his head before the pokemon's head dropped and it fell asleep._

* * *

Hop jolted awake, sitting up so fast he sent the weight on his chest flying with a startled "vee!" and he realized he sent his poor Eevee tumbling from his chest.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Eve!" He reached over and picked up the silver eevee, petting her apologetically as she huffed and trilled as she settled against his chest, flicking his chin with a ear briefly.

Now that he had calmed his racing heart and let his mind settle, he reflected on the very bizarre dream he had just woken up from.

He was a prince in it? And he healed Zamazenta with magic? Well, there were fairy type pokemon so magic really wasn't out of the realm of possibility, but that dream was strange. _Really _strange.

He scritched Eve behind the ear, surprisingly he hadn't woken the rest of his pokemon, Sparky the boltund and Corviknight laying against Dubwool while Swanna laid close to Corviknight and Rillaboom.

He sighed, letting Eve down and stretched out, eying the shield sticking out of his bag from the corner of his eye.

That _strange shield_, he had hardly been able to get it out of his head since he got it and it hardly ever left his bag, he was just drawn to it and he didn't know why. He also had to fight the strange urges to always have it on his arm, cause frankly, the urge at times was downright nonsensical and out of left field. He noticed the weird writing on the back of it at some point to be in some weird runic language he knew from school to be ancient Galarian, but he didn't know how to read it.

It being so dirty and rusted also bugged the heck out of him, but he was scared of possibly breaking or ruining it if he used regular cleaners on it. Maybe he could ask Alira to help him find a cleaner that won't damage it.

He brought his hands to his hair, tugging on it a little roughly as he groaned quietly. All these questions with no answers bugged him, so he hoped that when they found the castle they'd get some answers.

He then sharply noticed the smell of what seemed to be food cooking and carefully crawled out of his tent, Eve following him, and saw Alira was cooking at her firepit.

She had her back to him, but her jacket was tied around her waist, revealing her black long sleeves were ripped on the top and tattered on the ends, and she was humming softly to herself.

He stood and stretched up, making some noises that had her turning her head and her gaze locked onto him over her shoulder.

"Morning 'borning Hop!" She smiled at him, stirring what she was cooking once before setting the spoon against the edge and turning around to face him.

"That's a new one." He chuckled as he approached her, not quite expecting but wasn't startled when she sprung forward and hugged him, Hop laughing as he returned the gesture. "Good morning to you too Alli!"

She giggled as she let go of him and stepped back, rocking on her heels briefly. "You sleep well?"

"For the most part, sent poor Eve flying from my chest with how abruptly I woke up though." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, Eve yipping from his heels with playful accusation in her voice.

"Aww, poor little Evey~!" Alira chuckled, smiling. "Ah, but it's good for her, keeps her on her toes~"

The trainers laughed when Eve started yipping and hopping around their feet, pretty much sounding like she was going off on them and, as Alira would put it, 'reading them the riot act'.

The commotion from Eve woke the rest of the pokemon, and so their teams left their respective tents, yawning and grumbling while Alira went back to cooking and Hop went and sat at the table.

"How did you sleep Alira?" Hop asked, watching as she got ready to start putting the curry onto plates.

He noticed she hesitated for a second before answering. "Fine, I suppose…" She mumbled, tone a bit distant.

He picked up on it immediately and asked. "Alli, did you have a nightmare?"

"Wha-_No_." She shook her head and got to plating the curry and rice. "Hang on, let me get this all plated so I don't burn myself."

"Okay." he let her get everyone their food as well as his and hers and waited for her to sit down before he asked again. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Not... quite." She fidgeted with her hands, shuffling her rice around on her plate absently. "Had a really weird dream, like EXTREMELY weird."

"Go on." He encouraged her to continue when she hesitated and after a moment she did.

"I was a girl named Heather, I was walking with this guy who looked a lot like you.." Her expression scrunched slightly as she still moved her food around her plate and leaned her cheek on her other hand. "They were talking about things I didn't really get honestly and it was weird to not… be myself."

"Sounds a bit like my dream Alli." He responded, making her tilt her head at him questioningly as she finally began eating her food. "I had a dream that was weird as well, I was some prince guy named Acaecus and-"

He jumped when she suddenly coughed, fighting to not choke on her food as he reached a hand over, worriedly asking as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Oh gosh Alira are you alright?!"

"I'm fine _I'm fine-_" She coughed, smacking her hand onto the table and finally cleared her throat, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Acaeus was the guy Heather was walking with in my dream."

"_What_?" Safe to say, Hop was gobsmacked and his jaw dropped.

"Is this another weird case of us having visions of the same thing?" Her expression was wide and a mix of exasperation and worry.

"I don't think so." Hop shook his head, pulling his hand back and pausing to eat before continuing. "There was no girl named Heather in my dream, I was just training with some guy, then I wandered into the woods and found what looked to be a very young and injured Zamazenta. Then it got weirder-I _**healed **_him with some sort of magic chant."

"What?" Now it was her turn to be surprised, eyebrows shooting up to almost hide behind her bangs.

"Yeah, it was weird." He finished his food after he finished talking and leaned his chin on his palm. "And the weirdest thing is, I can still recall it all _very vividly_, it's not like any other dream I had."

"Like a memory? That's, that's what it feels like right?" Alira stumbled over her words, stammering briefly, and she knit her fingers together over her half-finished plate with a sense of frustration at her stammer. "Same for me, it's, it's not like a dream, like a _memory_."

"Like a memory?" That... was accurate to how it felt actually. "That makes a load of sense actually."

She nodded, then looked over at their teams and hummed. "I should finish my food before Eve decides it's her next target."

Hop turned his head and almost laughed when he saw the shiny eevee eying Alira's unfinished plate like prey, petting the eevee as Alira began eating her food.

"I still can't believe you spent so long finding Eve." Hop commented as he brought the eevee to his lap so he could make sure she didn't jump across the table at his friend's food.

"Hm? I wanted to." She mumbled, smiling a little bashfully and keeping her gaze on her plate. "You've been my friend since I was young, I wanted to be nice."

"You didn't need to do that for me." He reached across the table and put his hand on her free one.

Automatically, she shifted her hand and laced her fingers with his, her gaze shifting up to meet his. "I wanted to." She repeated, having difficulty with getting her words out like she sometimes did. "_N...Needed to._" Her mouth shut with a click and her gaze drift down, she didn't always get like this but when she did, it was better to wait for a proper answer.

"Just... don't go disappearing for a week without telling anyone again." He still remembered _that _terrifying week, after he got the fairy badge he made his way to Circhester and began trying to get the ice badge, it took him two days of attempts to realize that she hadn't shown up yet. He asked around the remaining challengers and turned out no one had seen her for at least two to three days, she had just vanished, sending him into a panic trying to find her, ending up roping Sonia and even Leon into helping him find his best friend.

He ended up finding her with Leon when they were making their way back to Circhester and were in the cold part of route eight. They literally stumbled across her camp, having to duck a pryo ball Nova almost beaned the both of them with and finding out the raboot evolved, the rest of her team milling around the camp normally. Hop had rushed into her tent, finding her passed out with a dream ball clenched tightly in a hand.

When she had woken up, she immediately hugged Hop when she saw him, about squeezing the daylights out of him before giving him the pokeball with a simple "For you!" Said pokeball had Eve in it and even now he didn't know why she went and got Eve for him.

"To be fair, I didn't plan on being absent for so long, but I don't plan on doing that again." She replied, finishing her food not long after and stretching her arms above her head. "We should pack up and get going when our food settles enough."

"Yeah, that sounds good to me." He nodded, stretching as well and laughing when Eve took that opportunity to leap across the table to get at Alira's plate. "H-Hey Eve!"

"Go ahead, there's not much left." Alira laughed as well as the eevee started basically cleaning the plate. "_Little starving marvin~_ You-"

"-_You'd swear I never feed her~_" He quipped, watching as she about lost it laughing due to him finishing her sentence.

He might not have admitted it the previous night, but he missed hanging out with her like this too.


	3. Nudge

Unsurprisingly, the woods were rather quiet as Hop and Alira walked for hours, there were the cries of pokemon in the distance but not much else.

So, Alira started to hum, swinging her arms back and forth and swaying side to side while walking. She couldn't stay still even while walking and Hop shared that sentiment.

He himself played with a poketoy ball, tossing it around his hands, from hand to hand, up in the air, over the back of his hands, his hands were not still at all and he often hopped over any obstacle in the way, like an overturned log or knocked down tree if it was small enough. He had a lot of energy as it was so jumping around helped him get some of it out.

This continued for a while, only Alira's humming filling the silence and the occasional fumbling of Hop's hands with his ball until there was a rumbling cry from Alira's bag.

She reached back and from the side pocket pulled out a scuffed friendball without breaking her stride and holding it in front of her with both hands, murmuring. "Hey hey, calm down. I can't let you out right now, there's not enough space and I don't want you to hurt yourself."

The ball shook in her hands and that cry rang out once more, though it didn't seem as needy as before.

"Who's in that?" Hop tilted his head at the ball in her hand, swearing he saw the ball prior to this.

"Eternatus." She shrugged and pocketed the ball in her jacket, looking over and snickering at Hop's expression. "_What?_"

"Wait, THAT'S the ball you caught him with?!" His eyes were as wide as saucers and eying the pocket the ball was in like it was going to burst any moment. "I thought you used a ultra ball or something!"

"Nope." She shook her head, smiling sheepishly as she scratched at her hair. "Remember how panicked _we both _were? I could hardly think straight and _you _had to help _me throw it_ once it went giant I was shaking so bad, I grabbed a ball at random and oops I grabbed a friendball. Didn't plan on it but that's what happened."

"Well, yeah now that you mention it." He hmm'd, scratching at the back of his head. "Yeah, I remember that we weren't exactly thinking straight, and you actually ended up fainting. Scared the crud out of me that's for sure!"

"I did _what_?" Her head snapped to the side to look at him, almost tripping over a log due to not looking.

"Yeah, you fainted pretty good that day." He tilted his head at her. "You don't remember?"

_Hop's heart was racing painfully in his chest, staring up at the form of Eternamax Eternatus up high in the sky, murderous intent radiating from it as Zamazenta stood close to him growling back at it._

_Dubwool stood nearby, staring up at the giant pokemon and it was only Widgyt's wagging tail and just her fur in general brushing against his fur due to how close they stood to each other keeping the sheep pokemon from trembling. Widgyt was growling as well, but her ears were flat against her head and like it was with Dubwool, the pokemon next to her was the only thing keeping her from shaking._

_Zacian stood close to Alira to Hop's immediate right, the dog legendary was growling up at Eternatus as well and one of those long strands of fur from it's cheeks was loosely wrapped around Alira's middle, probably due to how badly she was shaking. This battle had gone on for so long, Hop was surprised Leon hadn't come to yet._

_Zamazenta then shifted, it's shield sticking close to it as it let out a roar before bolting, jumping and ramming into Eternatus like it had done previously in the battle._

_Zamazenta upon landing then barked at Zacian who lifted it's sword, light encasing it like before and after letting go of Alira, jumped at Eternatus and slashed it before landing on the ground._

_With that, both dog pokemon barked at the two humans as energy arched all over Eternatus and it groaned, clearly weakened enough to-_

_"This is it Alli!" Hop turned to her as she looked at him, her eyes wide. "Try to catch Eternatus NOW!"_

_"G-Got it!" She was shaking so much her bag practically fell off her back as she dug her hands through one of the pockets, trying to find a pokeball and eventually grabbed one._

_Her dynamax bracelet enlarged the ball like normal, but she almost fell over like it was too heavy in her hands and she cried out. "H-Hop help! I-I can't-"_

_"I gotcha Alli!" He ran over, skidding on his heels to stop on a dime, and grabbed one side of the ball, helping her lift it before he said. "On the count of three! One, two, _

THREE-!_"_

_At three, they threw it in unison at the Gigantic Pokémon, Alira then leaning partially on Hop as they watched the ball try to pull in the pokemon._

_They heard it roar and squirm for a moment, making the duo take a step forward in concern and fright, but they about gripped onto each other as they saw it's form flicker with the red light signature of the pokeball working. Then it was suddenly pulled towards the pokeball, becoming so bright they had to cover their eyes until the ball shut with a loud clack and fell to the ground, shaking the ground as it landed._

_It shook once, twice, Alira separated from Hop to step towards it, shaking so much but muttering. "_

Please please please please **stay in there…!**_" __And Hop was desperately praying alongside her that it stayed-_

_Thrice. Then, it flashed and shrunk back to normal size, a resounding click echoing through the air and Hop about fell over in relief as he cheered while Alira walked over, bending down on shaking legs to pick up the ball from the crater._

_She stood up long enough for Hop to see her pocket it, then she promptly tipped over and started to fall._

_"Alira!" He rushed to catch her, but surprisingly, _

_Zacian__ rushed over and caught her on it's back, form flashing as it returned to that powered down form it had with the rusted sword held in it's mouth._

_The dog pokemon whined softly as it lowered itself to the ground, and Hop helped it rest her on the ground. She was out like a light, though after Zacian nosed her neck for a moment, the relieved huff it let out Hop assumed meant she was okay._

_Zacian laid the rusted sword next to her and nosed her hand briefly before backing up and Zamazenta came over, form flashing as well and it was suddenly holding the rusted shield in it's mouth when it reverted to it's powered down form._

_It carefully laid the shield by Hop and nosed his hand almost insistently, and he petted it gently. "Thank you for helping us."_

_It almost seemed to hum in response, giving him a strange but warm look as it gave his hand one last nuzzle before it joined Zacian._

_The dog duo turned to two humans and howled briefly before jumping off and into the sky where they disappeared from sight._

"Huh. No wonder my memories go blank right after I picked up the ball." She crossed her arms, brow furrowing.

"I had to explain what happened to the paramedics after, they were seriously concerned about you and Leon." He then crossed his arms, giving her a look. "You didn't tell me you nearly broke your ankle during the battle when one of Eternatus' attacks knocked us back, the paramedics had to tell me that."

"I... honestly didn't notice?" That half-smile pulled at her face again. "With what was going on I hardly noticed much if anything not related to Eternatus."

"Well, I really get that, but other than that you need to be more careful of that." He frowned. "You've always not noticed if you're hurt, even when we were younger, I don't want you to get hurt seriously and not notice until it's too late."

"I promise." She held up her left pinky finger to him and he didn't hesitate to link his own right pinky with hers as she smiled.

"Good!" He grinned, even while noticing the deformation of the tip of her pinky, the very tip being very small and slightly tight feeling with a faint tiny scar visible on both sides. "You mind telling me what's up with your pinky now? I never thought to ask before so I'm a bit curious."

"Well, it's probably what gives me that not noticing if I get hurt." She giggled a tad nervously, shifting around to Hop's other side so she could still link her finger with his. "But ah, mishap with a car door. It was a old van with a sliding back door, I was… Five? I'm pretty sure." She bit her lip. "I don't remember everything and practically none of the pain mind you, but I was pulling myself into the car with my left hand gripping the divide between the passenger door and the back door, then suddenly my brother slammed the back door on my hand."

"The more I hear about this mysterious brother of yours, the more I despise him." He scowled, shifting to hold her hand tightly in his own.

"If you dislike my brother, just wait till somehow my father comes up in a topic." She offhandedly remarked and shrugged absently. "Anyhow. Tip of my pinky nearly got cut completely off, mom said my nail was only on by a sliver of skin, parents got me to the hospital soon after, I just remember putting my hand in a bowl of ice, being in a car, the next thing I know I'm in a hospital room."

She then snorted in amusement. "Now, I hardly remember much after that, side from telling my dad to turn off the light so I could sleep and the nurse kept turning it back on, but _apparently_, I threw one _hell _of a fit when they were trying to get an x-ray of my pinky. Like, I was apparently thrashing around and I knocked three guys trying to hold me down into the wall, knocked two into a surgical table, AND-" she broke off into a fit of giggles. "I ripped a hole in my dad's tie with my teeth before they managed to sedate me."

"Gosh, you were one crazy child, and you were only FIVE?" Hop's eyes were wide with astonishment and amusement.

"Yep, five and I was one feral little girl when in pain." She laughed. "I had to have a cast on my finger for a good while, a month or more at most I think? Left my pinky looking like this." She held their joined hands up with her pinky sticking out.

"I hope there's no more gruesome stories like this in your past." He gripped her hand a bit tighter and was never more glad she moved to Galar when she did. Sounded like her life in Sinnoh wasn't a nice one.

"Nope, 'side from getting really bad cuts on my right knee that left scars thanks to a bad and ratty desk, none I can remember." She shrugged, then promptly yelped as she nearly tripped on something. "Aiee!"

"Alli-!" He gripped her hand, dug his feet in, and pulled, keeping her from falling on her face. "You alright?"

"Yeah, sheesh, what the heck did I trip on?" She looked down once she got her balance back and about choked. "Holy heck!"

Hop looked down and what seemed to be part of a pillar, a stone one, was embedded in the ground. Following it to the right with his eyes, he saw the rest of it standing crookedly, vines crawling up it at odd angles and moss on it in patchy places. There was another pillar not far from that one in the same state of disrepair.

"Woah." he breathed out, walking over with her to one of the standing pillars and inspecting it. "It looks almost identical to the arch in the shrine, just minus the arch part."

"...Look, there's, uh, walking stones!" Alira pointed to the ground and sure enough, an array of stones were set in the ground, like a path that lead further onward into the mist.

"Where does it lead?" Hop wondered before beginning to tug Alira along with him as they followed the path, soon coming to a surprisingly crystal clear area of the forest.

It was a small clearing that looked to have been a meeting spot in centuries long past, there was a fountain in the middle of the clearing with a statue of Zacian and Zamazenta sitting side by side, heads bowed as if in prayer, in the middle of the fountain itself, with stone benches and tables scattered around the clearing. Some tables and benches were cracked or broken, but the fountain, it was strangely _pristine_, there were vines creeping up the edges but otherwise, it looked untouched by time or nature.

"Hm… This should be a good place to take a break." Alira mused, slipping her bag off her shoulders and letting go of Hop's hand to place her bag on an unbroken table before approaching the fountain. Peering over, she was shocked to see the water in it was crystal clear.

"Hey Hop!" She called over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off the water. "This is super freaky, the water in the fountain isn't-_ACK!_"

She suddenly felt something large ram into her back and sent her toppling into the water face first. The water was incredibly shallow so she was able to shove herself up on her arms, coughing and rubbing at her eyes to get the water out of them.

"Alira!" Hop rushed over as he saw her suddenly jolt forward and fall into the water headfirst, thankfully as he reached the edge and leaned forward he saw she was fine, if rather soaked and rubbing water out of her eyes. "You alright?"

"Yeah, did you see what hit me?" She shifted into a sitting position so she could rub at her eyes with both hands.

"Nothing hit you, you just jolted and fell in." He shook his head, then noticing how clear the water was. "Holy heck the water's crystal clear!"

"Yeah, that's what I was-" She was able to open her eyes and gasped, gaze behind and above Hop. "Oh gods!"

"What?" He looked around, but didn't see anything.

"The fog, it's _gone_, I can't see any of it at the edges of the clearing." Her eyes were wide with disbelief.

Hop furrowed his brows and looked around once more, but the fog was still there. "No it isn't."

"I'm telling you it's-gah!" Alira tried to get up, but her foot slipped on some moss under the water and she fell back into the water with a splash that hit Hop's upper torso and face, making him recoil with a sputter.

"Aaaah I'm so so sorry Hop! I didn't mean to do that!" Alira panicked, afraid she might have upset him and already frazzled from the sudden trip into the water.

"It's fine Alli! It's just some water, no skin off my back." He rubbed his eyes with his hands and then the sleeve of his jacket, blinking his eyes open and then he reached over. "Here, grab on so you don't slip again."

She frowned but nodded, reaching and grabbing his hand. He helped her out of the water fountain and turned around to grab her bag so she could get changed due to being completely soaked, only to jump back and nearly end up taking a trip into the fountain himself. "The heck?!"

The fog was gone now, he could not see a single bit of fog anywhere now and he knew fog couldn't clear up so quickly, not that fast.

"Aha, so it's _not _just me seeing things!" If she wasn't sopping wet she probably would have jumped in the air, but was more occupied peeling her soaking wet jacket off and thanking the fact she still wore her black shirt today.

"How the heck is this possible?" Hop shook his head, squinting as he looked around before sighing. "This mystery will need to wait for a moment, want me to set up my tent so you can get changed?" He shifted his backpack off his back as he looked over his shoulder at his best friend wringing out her jacket.

"Please, I have a few extra changes of clothes in my bag and I'd... rather not change behind a tree." She flushed red as an embarrassed smile pulled at her expression and her brow furrowed, gaze looking anywhere but at Hop.

"Alright, one moment Alli!" He nodded before quickly getting his tent out, setting it up in enough time for Alira to rummage through her bag and find her changes of clothes, briefly pausing on what she wanted to change into before deciding and setting the clothes and shoes aside in a folded pile.

She draped her jacket on a mostly unbroken bench to dry right before Hop came out of his tent, giving her a thumbs-up as he stood which she nodded at before ducking into the tent quickly with her clothes in hand.

While Hop waited for her to finish getting changed, he went over to the fountain, peering suspiciously at the water before using a spare water bottle he had to fill it with the water. He may not know exactly if the water was the cause of them suddenly not seeing the fog, but he could get it checked out by a professor once they got back after they found the castle of the two heroes.

He shivered as a cold wind brushed by him, tightening the cap on the bottle before looking around warily, on the lookout for anything he couldn't see before a hand on the ball with Dubwool in it. He didn't see anything, so he sighed and let go of the pokeball in time for him to hear Alira leave the tent.

"All changed now Alli?" He looked over his shoulder, only to quickly spin around as he saw what she was wearing.

She was using a small towel she had to dry her hair with one hand as she stood, her other hand carrying her wet clothes, but the fact she was wearing a long-sleeved, white pleated _dress _with a belt around the middle and wearing black cropped leggings under it was a _major_ switch from what she normally wore. She swapped her trainers for brown loafers with short socks as well.

"Yeah, all done and out of my wet clothes." She placed her soaked clothes on the table her bag was on, looking over at Hop and tilting her head. "What's with the look?"

"Well, you don't _usually _wear dresses mate." he scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out how to word this. "Guess I'm not used to it is all."

"You're not the only one." She gave a small shrug before beginning to arrange her wet clothes on various parts of the table or nearby benches to dry in the sun. "I don't normally wear them cause I'm not normally comfortable wearing them in public, you know." She shrugged again. "I don't mind if it's just around people I know and trust though, like you."

"I…" He found himself at a mild loss as to what to reply to that with as he watched her move around and place her wet clothing in sunny spots to dry.

It wasn't like she _hadn't said _something like that before, **hardly**, as she often trusted him with more than she trusted her mother and said so on more than one occasion, but he explicitly remembered when she was fourteen saying something like "_I'll die before I wear anything with a skirt_" cause of rumors she had dealt with back in her hometown of sick people using mirrors to look under a girl's skirt, leading to her paranoia regarding them.

So her feeling comfortable enough to wear a _dress _of all things around him surprised him. Though, she was wearing thick black leggings so that probably aided her in feeling comfortable to wear that dress. _Still though..._

"Thank you." He finally found himself saying as she fluffed out her black shirt, her face scrunching at the resulting water flicking off it as she set it on a table broken in half as he gave her a warm smile. It honestly touched him deeply.

"Not a problem Hops." She turned and smiled at him. "How 'bout we make camp? It's almost lunch and we were walking for gosh knows how long and it'll give my clothes a chance to dry."

"Sounds like a plan!" He grinned, getting to setting up his firepit as she did the same, not setting her tent up as they weren't going to stay there for the night.

Once Alira's firepit and their pots were set up, they let their pokemon out of their balls and went about making lunch, leaving their pokemon to explore the clearing.

Eve shook her fur once she was out of her ball, the silverite eevee looking around curiously at her surroundings before spotting the fountain. She bounded over to it, hopping up on the edge of it to peer in and letting out an excited "Vee!" when she saw it had water in it.

She wasted no time in jumping in with a large splash, said splash being _large _enough to hit one too-close-to-the-fountain Nova square on the back as she was kicking her pyro ball around out of habit. The fire type rabbit squawked and kicked the ball out of pure reflex, grazing Lily and _actually_ hitting Rillaboom square on the back.

The roserade and gorilla pokemon shouted out of shock as they jumped, attracting the attention of their trainers, Alira only able to utter out a "_Uh oh._" as Rillaboom sent one of his drumsticks flying, hitting _Shiro _square on the forehead. That made the water type sputter and the inteleon's rapid battering it away from his face sent it _flying _once more.

It smacked Sparky square on the head, leaving the male boltund blinking in _complete confusion_ as the previous four pokemon began shouting at each other. Lily at Nova with a sharp tone in her voice while Nova sounded indignant and defensive, and Shiro the same with Rillaboom.

Calethorne and Widgyt quickly rushed over and placed themselves between the shouting pokemon, Cale pushing Nova and Shiro back and Widgyt doing her best to keep the much larger than her Rillaboom back while Lily was easier to keep back due to being around Widgyt's size.

The six pokemon were all shouting(or barking in Widgyt's case) and at that point, the two trainers snapped out of their stupor, and Hop rushed forward while Alira scanned the ground for something before bending down and picking it up, mind racing. _I really hope I remember this correctly!_

"Hey, stop fighting!" Hop shouted, and it did seem like a full-on fight was about to break out despite his shouting and Cale and Widgyt's efforts-

Then some sort of gentle, flute-like _whistling song_ rang out, and everyone froze, the pokemon's gazes snapping to look behind Hop.

Hop turned his head, seeing Alira had her eyes closed, but with two fingers she had a leaf pressed against her lips and seemed to be... _whistling _into it or _somehow playing_ it.

All the pokemon seemed to calm down as she continued to play and Widgyt closed her eyes, swaying with the song whilst seemingly smiling as Eve popped out of the fountain, yipping apologetically and seeming to explain her own part in the mishap.

Nova patted her head and as the pokemon began to converse calmly and seeming to explain what happened to each other, Hop walked back to Alira as she stopped playing that leaf. Her eyes opened and even she seemed surprised by how calm everyone was now.

"Holy heck that _actually _worked..." She whispered, eyes wide as she lowered the leaf from her mouth.

"What was that?" Hop asked, eyes wide as well as she shook her head to clear it.

"O-Oración." she said, folding her hands over her heart, a warm, nostalgic light glimmering in her eyes. "One of the few happy things I keep from my time in Sinnoh. This girl I was friends with, her grandmother taught me and her how to play the leaf whistle, which can be done just using any old leaf, as well as how to play Oración." She paused, trying to think. "It's...Her grandmother said,"

She closed her eyes and said softly. "_Oración can soothe even the fiercest rage in a pokemon and bring peace to those troubled._" Her eyes opened and she smiled as she lowered her hands to her sides. "I'm honestly surprised I even _remembered _it, let alone how to play it enough that it'd work, it's been nearly a decade since I played it or played the leaf whistle at all. Had waay too much running around this noggin of mine in the meantime since then." She rapped her knuckles against her head for emphasis.

"Well, I'm really glad you remembered it, I mean it stopped them from fighting!" He grinned and reached forward, grasping her hands in his own. "Plus it was really, _really _pretty to listen to, I've never heard anything like it before!"

"A-Aah, um!" Alira stammered, turning red before smiling bashfully. "Thank you, that's really good to hear." She cleared her throat. "Now, we _should _get back to cooking before the food burns."

"Oh crap!" Hop bolted away from Alira to rush over to his pot, making Alira giggle as she returned to her own whilst ignoring how warm her ears were. She shifted when a brief cold breeze blew by her, making her glance around with narrow eyes before returning to tending her pot. _That's strange, it's almost summer and yet there are cold breezes like that… Hm._


	4. Synchronicity

Once lunch was made and served to everyone(Hop sneaking in the fountain water into both pots just in case so their pokemon could see through the fog) and waiting a few minutes to let their food settle, they returned their pokemon to their balls before packing up their stuff.

Alira cringed as she noticed that while her clothes were almost completely dry, her jacket was still mildly damp before sighing and tying the arms around both of her bag's straps, making sure it was secure and resting on the outside of the bag then slipping the bag on her back.

After nodding at each other, they began walking once more, off in the direction they seemed to be pulled in. With the obstacle of the fog now gone, they made more progress than during the previous hours as they walked, even when night fell though they did stop at one point to get their flashlights out and so Alira could change out of her dress after mentioning she didn't want to rip the skirt if she stumbled into a thornbush.

With the fog gone, they were now able to see all the pokemon living in the forest, and there were a lot. A lot, to the point they were very surprised they weren't tripping over them before when the fog was still a problem.

Lycanrocs, midday forms, midnight forms and dusk forms alike, ran through the bushes in small packs, Dedenne scampered from tree branch to tree branch, eevees ducked from one bush to another- just pokemon of _all kinds _seemed to live in these woods, undisturbed by humans.

And so, for the next several days, they walked and traveled through the woods, stopping to take breaks and make camp for the nights of course. They covered a lot of ground that way and seemed to be getting closer to wherever they were headed.

But the closer they were getting to that destination, the more strange dreams they were having at an alarming frequency.

* * *

_Hop was Acaeus once more, and it seemed some time had passed since the events of the last dream, as there was a small castle in the process of being built near the camp Acaeus was staying in. Not that he was in the camp for long. Ducking out of his tent at the crack of dawn before anyone awoke, he grabbed his shield and ran into the woods, laughter barely hidden as he ran to the clearing from before and looked around excitedly for a certain pokemon._

_"__C'mon Zen! Don't be playing sneaky assassin again!" He called out before a large weight tackled him to the ground from the side, male laughter ringing through his head as he felt a big nose nudging his chin._

_"_And I thought I told you my name was Zamazenta!_" The dog pokemon laughed as Acaeus pushed his head away with a hand, though he couldn't do much for him practically sitting on his chest._

_"Ah, Zen's more regal, and I can't pronounce your full name correctly." Acaeus chuckled, finally shoving him off his chest so he could sit up and pat the pokemon on the head. "How you been my good friend? After last week when you took me on a tour of your absolutely stunning forest, I've been up to my eyes in 'royal documents' this, 'sword training' that, the 'deal with the lunatic local' problem and it's driven me absolutely bonkers that my retainer wouldn't let his gaze off me so I couldn't visit you until now."_

_"_I've been well! Helped my sister and her friend with a problem and have been protecting the pokemon of this forest from any threats for the most part!_" Zamazenta puffed out his chest proudly for a few moments before proceeding to flop onto Acaeus' lap. "_I have missed you my friend, though, it's almost always business with my sister lately and I don't often have the chance to talk with any pokemon of the forest. And I think her friend is a touch afraid of me._" He huffed an audibly amused puff of air through his nose and Acaeus decided to rub his ears._

_"Ah, I wonder why. You're not that imposing unlike what you've described of your sister." He hummed, ignoring the mock offended look Zamazenta shot him._

_"_I am offended my good sir!_" The pokemon squawked before breaking off into laughter. "_Well, I'm not as it's true, and she's got a glare that can cut through ice and is the more...offensive out of us._"_

_"She sounds like someone my retainer might like." Acaeus put a hand to his chin in thought. "Out of curiosity, when I can meet her?"_

_"_Zacian is actually going to be coming by with her friend, she wants to meet you and make sure you're trustworthy._" Zamazenta hummed, pushing his head against the human's fingers even more. "_Ah right there! There's an itch that's been there since yesterday I haven't been able to get._"_

_"Wait excuse me?" His eyes went wide even as he continued to scritch behind Zamazenta's ear. "When?"_

_"_Well, as soon as she's able!_" As soon as the pokemon finished speaking, the bushes rustled on the other side of the clearing. "_Oh, there she is!_"_

_From the bushes out stepped a deep blue and pink dog pokemon like Zamazenta, only instead of having a ponytail it had braids on the side of its head, and right behind it was a girl, in peasant clothing, with the most striking blue eyes that locked onto his immediately, features framed by long brown hair._

* * *

_Alira dreamed she was Heather once more but she was being chased._

_Heather hid behind a large tree, skirt folded it in front of her with a hand so it didn't billow out from the sides of the tree, other hand resting on her chest as she tried to keep her gasping for air quiet._

_Holy hell those drunk tavern idiots don't know when to quit, she could hear their shouting from here and far from the last time she cursed her mother for starting up a traveling tavern business that took them to this uncharted land._

_She hated working as a barmaid and dealing with twitwits making grabs for her rear or chest, and when the three currently chasing her didn't know to back the hell off so she decked them with her tray she was carrying and proceeded to book it into the very much unknown woods._

_She tilted her head to better listen and when she was certain they were far enough away, she booked it even further into the woods, she didn't mind if she had to sleep out among the wild creatures and pokemon for the night, it was a far better choice than the one awaiting her at home where she knew her mother would scold her for her reaction and deny her dinner._

_Maybe it'd be better to live out here, it might actually treat her more kindly than her mother ever did-_

_With a yelp, she tripped over a tree root and fell right on her front. Her head hit something, another root and her vision spun. She could hardly discern up from down and sound was distorted and muffled, she heard something but she couldn't tell what._

_Her hearing cleared up enough for her to hear what sounded like a dog barking and growling, the drunk idiots shouting in what seemed to be fear, footsteps running away, then nothing._

_She shifted onto her back, propping herself on her arms to find a blue and pink dog, with piercing yellow eyes, staring right as her._

* * *

One night, they made camp in the ruins of a VERY old cottage, and both their dreams made them wake up in the middle of the night drenched in cold sweat and wondering just what was going on the morning after.

* * *

_Hop was Acaeus again, but...Something very wrong was happening._

_Acaeus was running, the skies were dark and he could hear people in his camp screaming but he paid it no mind, far more concerned with the pokemon that were absolutely giant running amok through the encampment._

_He didn't even have his armor on like he usually did, he just had his regular clothes on and he only had his shield._

_He reached the edge of the camp and continued to bolt, having to dive forward in a roll when he dodged a bolt of red lightning but was quickly back on his feet, darting into the forest without a second thought._

_"Zen! Zen!" He shouted, calling for Zamazenta as he knew that if anyone knew what was going on it was him or Zacian._

_He reached the clearing in record time, only to see the only person there was Heather and she spun to meet him, eyes wide._

_"Acaeus! I can't find Zacian and Zamazenta is nowhere to be seen!" She ran over to him, nearly bowling him over but managed to stop before she did, her voice sounded very rough like she had been talking at a far higher volume than normal. "I don't know where either of the two are!"_

_Acaecus felt his heart drop in his chest as he looked down at the former tavern maid._

_If Zacian and Zamazenta couldn't be found, _what happened to them?

* * *

Hop jolted awake, gasping for air and clenching the part of his shirt over his heart in his hand. His heart was hammering in his chest and he realized he was shaking, he felt like he himself lived what he just dreamed and that was _terrifying_. Even more so as he recognized the darkened skies of the darkest day, the chaotic sounds mimicking the ones heard his own version of from the streets below as _he and Alira raced to stop Eternatus-_

He couldn't stay in his tent, _he felt like he was suffocating_, so he got out of his sleeping bag before quickly leaving his tent. He made his way to Alira's tent, peering past the flaps to seeing she was awake surprisingly.

She was sitting up, resting her head sideways on her knees which she had hugged to her chest and was spaced out until she spotted Hop. She raised her head, tilting her head slightly in confusion and seemed to be silently asking what was wrong.

He opened his mouth before shutting it with a shake of his head, his eyebrows raising when she raised a hand in his direction before motioning him to join her as she straightened out her legs.

He hesitated only briefly before crawling in, ending up beside her where she immediately pulled him into a hug, one he readily reciprocated. Hiding his face in her shoulder as she held him tightly, leaning her head against his, he didn't want to leave her embrace. He felt safe and didn't want to have that dream again.

The two eventually fell asleep, curling up together on her sleeping bag and sleeping peacefully now.

* * *

_Alira dreamed she was Heather again, and she was riding a Rapidash._

_She guided her Rapidash to go to a hill she could see not far away, no saddle or anything as she had her arms wrapped around the horn pokemon's neck, it's cyan and pale purple mane and tail flowing out from behind it as it galloped across the landscape._

_She crested the hill and with a gentle tug on it's mane, it slowed to a stop and she looked back, giggling when she saw Acaeus catching up on his own Rapidash._

_"Catching up slow poke?" She called out to the young man and he laughed in return as he soon joined her on the hill._

_"Well, you're one to talk, miss Rapidash-whisperer!" He shot back, chuckling as his Rapidash stopped beside her own. "You act as if you've lived here all your life."_

_"I haven't lived here more than a scant few months. You still haven't told me where you're from." She rolled her eyes, ignoring how her throat hurt at how she was making it louder than she normally talked._

_"Ah, it's not important, I came here on a boat." He shrugged, flicking his purple ponytail back over his shoulder._

_She gave him a flat stare which he chuckled at, shaking her head. "You are strange my good sir."_

_"No more than you, my dear." He grinned. "I mean, we're both friends with Zen and Zacia after all, strange is normal when dealing with talking pokemon."_

_"Ha! You've a fair point Acaeus." She giggled, resting a hand on the hilt of the very pretty sword he had given her. "I must thank you again for giving me this after I mentioned not having anything to defend myself with, I don't know where you got it."_

_"Ah, you needn't thank me, I had it sitting around and I certainly wouldn't have made use of it." He shrugged, holding his shield aloft. "I much prefer my shield to a sword."_

_"And I the sword to the shield." She unsheathed the sword and held it to the skies as well._

_They then heard a weird booming sound from above and the skies flashed red briefly as they looked up, their Rapidashs murmuring warily._

_Thousands of tiny red glowing jewels were seemingly falling from the heavens, scattering from the larger red stone that sailed over the duo and landed in the field beyond the hill they were on._

_"Falling stars!" Heather gasped, eyes wide in wonder as she witnessed this absolute spectacle. "So many stars are falling after that large one!"_

_"Let's get closer! No one's ever seen a star up close after all!" Acaeus beamed before making his Rapidash bolt towards the smoking crater._

_"__Acaeus!" Heather called after him, spurring her pokemon to follow him when he showed no signs of stopping or turning back. Though she had to admit, she was kind of excited to see a star up close._

* * *

Alira snapped awake, taking in a deep breath and fighting not to cry out, g_ods her back was soaked_, that dream_wasn't even that intense_ but-

**Hell**, who was she kidding, that big star that fell from the sky in it was a dead ringer for what remained of that black egg Eternatus came from over a year ago in the power plant and the mere _idea of needing to go through what happened that day again terrified the __**living daylights **__out of her._

She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, she certainly wouldn't be falling back asleep anytime soon. And she didn't, until Hop came to her tent, clearly having woken from his own dream and she didn't hesitate to let him come in.

He probably didn't realize it, but she could feel how drenched the back of his shirt was and how he was shaking so badly, making her hold him tightly and securely so he knew he was safe, that whatever happened in his dream couldn't get him here whilst his own arms around her calmed her down.

That was the way things always were for them really, knowing or doing what the other needed even if it couldn't be put to words. They just knew what each other needed at any given point, even before the other was aware of it or either of them realized it, while growing up together. How and why they simply were like this, they didn't know, it didn't need an explanation. It was simply always Alira and Hop who understood each other on that level and that was just fine.

...The dreams weren't the end of the weird happenings though. One night, something woke Hop up and he felt like he had to leave his tent to get some air.

When he did though, he was startled to find Alira, still asleep clearly by her closed eyes, standing in the moonlight, head tilted to the skies.

"Alira!?" Hop yelped but she didn't seem to hear him, and as he got closer he heard her whisper something softly.

"_Egoum adventus amacus…_" With that, Hop had to rush forward as she collapsed and he barely caught her before she made contact with the ground.

"Nghh…" Her eyes blinked open tiredly and she nearly jumped when she saw Hop hovering above her. "Hop…? What're you doing in my tent?"

"We're not in your tent." He frowned worriedly. "We're outside, you were just standing there and said something weird, egoum adventus something then you just collapsed just now."

Her brow furrowed and she sat up, looking disturbed but not saying a word, seeming to think.

And thinking she indeed was, remembering to be more specific what happened in the battle town once only five days before this trek into the slumbering weald started.

_She had reached the top of the Poke Ball tier and was battling Leon, she had a froslass she named Seraphina out against his last pokemon, that inteleon he had since his last champion battle with her and she hadn't failed to fondly comment on remembering that pokemon which made Leon grin._

_The inteleon was looking pretty weak, so Alira saw a chance to end the battle, her free hand on the hilt of the rusted sword in her bag keeping her calm, but… she was also feeling very weird at this point._

_"Okay Sera, use _-glacius ventio-_!" Her voice choked and a stinging sharp pain shot through her head, words alien even to her being used in place of what she was trying to say, Icy Wind._

_But somehow, Seraphina understood her anyway and used the move in question, knocking the inteleon out and winning the battle as she put a hand to her head, the pain lingering and getting worse._

_She heard Leon saying something, but she couldn't understand the words and the next thing she knew, she heard clattering and the sound of metal hitting the floor. She dully realized she fell to her knees, propping herself on the hand that had the sword in her grip as her vision swam._

_She was quick to shove the sword away, sending it skitting across the smooth floor as she gripped at her head, she felt weird and strange and not like herself-_

_For a few moments, even as the sound of footsteps rushing towards her rang out, she briefly couldn't recall who she was. No name or identity registered for the scariest few moments of her life and she finally registered she was shaking._

_A hand touched her shoulder firmly, making her flinch and her head snapped up to meet Leon-_

wait who was that face resembles someone else from long ago_-'s concerned gaze._

_He was saying something, a name, a name, Al-Ali-_

_"_**Alira!**_" The world and her sense of self suddenly snapped into focus, making her sway and he quickly steaded her by placing his other hand on her other shoulder. "Easy there Alli. Take a deep breath."_

_She felt like she was going to pass out, but she breathed in and let it out shakily, hands coming up to grip onto his arms for support. It was okay it was okay she was Alira __no not knowing who she was no nono-_

_In goes another breath, and while the headache was lessening, tears sprung to her eyes unbidden and she felt a sob building in her throat for no reason. Leon's eyes widened and before she knew it, she was pulled into a secure hug that made her feel safe, she didn't hesitate in hugging him back, hiding her face in his jacket as her shoulders hitched with silent sobs._

_"I'm sorry I don't-I don't know why I'm-" She tried to get out between sobs, but Leon hushed her, running a hand down her back soothingly._

_"It's alright Alira, just get it out." He shushed her, eying the sword she had all but kicked away, noticing the glow it had for a few more moments before it faded._

_It took her a few minutes, but she eventually calmed down and realized how utterly bizarre her sudden fit was._

_"Sorry, I don't know what came over me." She apologizes but Leon shakes his head._

_"Don't be, I'm not too sure if it was your fault to begin with," He began, eying the sword once more. "How long have you had that sword?"_

_"About… over a year? Since the Eternatus deal." She shrugged. "I got it during the darkest day to try to help with what was going on and it did."_

_"Has that ever happened before?" He was thankful she hadn't lifted her head from his chest or she would have seen his shocked expression at how long she had it._

_She shook her head, then paused. "Well, no, but I haven't held it as long as I did today. It…" She struggled with words for a moment. "I don't know how but it helps calm me so I'm not shaking in my boots from nerves when I hold it even briefly, like there's some weird connection between me and it cause Hop's held it but he felt nothing. It's why I was so calm-looking during the beginning of our match in the league ages ago, not going to lie I was really nervous to where I held it briefly before the match because I couldn't calm down."_

_Her hands gripped the back of his shirt. "I've never had a hand on it as long as I did today though, that was… strange. I hope that wasn't considered cheating."_

_"No, I don't think so if it helped you think clearly." He tightened his grip around her carefully but comfortingly, aware that she had some issues with physical contact and only Hop ever seemed to know what to do and what not to do. "I don't know what this weird connection you and it have entails or what might be linking you to it, but be careful okay? You spoke some sort of weird language and were extremely upset just now, I don't want you to get hurt because of it."_

_She nodded with an affirmative hum, she certainly planned on that, that was for sure._

"Alira?" Hop's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she breathed in, trying to keep her shaking as minimal as possible.

"That's... strange." She managed, frowning deeply. "Let's… track this if it happens again."

"Alira?" Hop picked up on the strange tone in her voice right away, even more so when she pulled her knees to her chest. "Alira, did this happen before?"

"...Yeah, brushed it off before." Her voice was so soft, whisper-like. "I didn't think it'd happen again." Her nails dug into her pant legs and Hop instinctively reached over and grabbed her hands. Her gaze flickered to look at him from the corner of her eye at this. "It's connected to the rusted sword. I… I _really _hope that this and the weird feelings I've had with it can have some answers if we find the castle."

He caught the fearful lit in her voice, even as soft as it was, and was quick to pull her into a tight hug which she sunk into without a second thought. For a moment, she thought she felt his heart beating in sync with her own.

Only five days later, they reached a break in the treeline and stepping out from under the shade of the trees and fauna, they were met with a shocking sight.

An absolutely large lake lay before them, massive in size, but on the other side of the lake from where they were standing, a cliff rose above the water in the distance, with a large, old castle resting atop it, an abandoned-looking settlement seeming to lay on the land off to the right side of the lake in between the cliff and them.

Alira let out a disbelieving laugh before absolutely shrieking with delight, jumping in the air as Hop cheered right alongside her. The two even turning to each other and grasping each other by the arms before jumping at the same time, grinning at each other before looking back to the castle they knew the pull in their beings was taking them.

_Finally_, their destination was within their sights at last.


	5. Though We Go By Different Names

It would probably take at least five more days to get around the lake to castle, but they were in no hurry now that they had it in their sights.

Alira lead the way to the abandoned settlement, the duo reached the outskirts of it by the time the sun was low on the horizon. The forgotten town was in surprisingly good condition, it was still run down and parts of the buildings in places had collapsed but it wasn't just skeleton ruins much to Alira's shock.

The town itself was huge, looking like it was once the center of some sort of hub with how old shopping stalls were set up around the road leading into the town to the center. It would likely take at least a day or two to make it through if they did stop to explore.

The center of the town had a large well in the middle of the plaza, it was in disrepair and had moss on it as well as missing a few stones, and if it was back when this town was surely bustling the two were sure it would look stunning if the all but gone fading paint on it's stones were anything to say.

Pokemon of various kinds skittered to and fro through the settlement, eyes wide with curiosity at the new visitors to their home, but surprisingly were not hostile in the slightest, a kirlia even waving back when Hop smiled and waved at it as it stood in the doorway of one of the small buildings.

The two stopped by the well to rest their legs after running to the town in a rush of excitement, leaning back against it. Alira let out a giddy giggle, absolutely beaming as she ran her hands through her slightly overgrown hair.

"Now that we have the castle in sight, how about we explore this town a little bit?" Hop suggested and Alira all but jumped to agree.

"Yeah! I mean, this place is in really good condition so I'm super curious how it's like this." She grinned, eyes sparkling with excitement and unbridled curiosity.

After mutually agreeing to stay within each other's sight or hearing range, the duo headed down a street and began to look around, peering into buildings and such.

Alira walked towards an old bakery looking building, peering in and seeing it was what indeed seemed to be a bakery set up, she could even see the ancient oven over the large stone counter, as well as the Dedenne and Pachirisu who were peeking out of the oven. Clearly that was their nest it seemed.

The two pokemon waved and gave a small bow, making her furrow her brows before waving back hesitantly. The Dedenne scampered out of the oven, hopping onto the counter as it's partner sighed before going back further in and curling into a ball to sleep.

"Neh neh deneh!" The pokemon chirped at her before running along the counter before pausing and looking back at her expectantly.

"You want me to follow you?" Alira furrowed her brows as the pokemon nodded. She then followed the pokemon as it lead her through the building into what she assumed were the living quarters of the bakery. It wasn't much, through the doorway at the back of the kitchen was a medium-sized room with an old desk and chair opposite a bed resting below a small window.

The small pokemon hopped onto the chair then the desk, running over to a wooden panel in the top of the desk and pawing at it insistently as it rattled beneath the Dedenne's paws.

"Hey hey, let me get that." she nudged the pokemon aside and rapped on the panel with a knuckle, then jostling it as best she could. It could definitely slide to the side, but it seemed jammed.

Sighing in frustration, she brought her elbow up before slamming it down on the panel, the old wood giving way under her arm. Brushing the splinters off her jacket sleeve, she moved the remains of the panel, surprised to find a perfectly preserved old leather bound book.

She picked it up, brushing the old book off with her sleeve as she saw a pattern burned into the front of it. A shield with a sword in front of it pointing up, mystical patterns surrounding it's edges.

She squinted at it, the image being strikingly familiar and then realizing with a gasp it was what the rusted sword and shield made that day when they floated out of her and Hop's hands, before smacking together to make that image of a shield behind an up turned sword.

Carefully now, she undid the tie of leather binding it shut, carefully opening it to see what looked to be the beginning of a diary judging on how the writing was formatted, but it was in ancient galarian and what's worse was it wasn't the one she memorized to read what the inscription on her sword meant, so the words on the page were nothing but nonsensical scribblings she couldn't read.

Plus she was getting a weird headache just _looking _at the book for some reason, she shook her head, pocketing the small book and reaching into her bag, pulling out five oran berries and offering them to the Dedenne. "As thank you for helping me find this." She smiled as the pokemon perked up, eyes wide and sparkly.

The pokemon chirped and squeaked in appreciation, taking the berries from her hand, stuffing one into its mouth before scampering off as fast as it could without dropping the berries. Alira giggled, a hand over her mouth over how absolutely adorable that little one was.

She shook her head, still smiling as she began to leave the bakery, hearing the Dedenne chattering to the Pachirisu who was responding with equal amount of energy now.

Meanwhile, with Hop, he wandered into what seemed to be an old blacksmithy. He noted that there were still swords and shields and weapons of all kinds up on display racks, like whoever lived here and sold these weapons just up and left without taking anything. Weird.

He walked into the forge, there was an iron anvil in the middle of the room and other things a blacksmith would use and need, though the anvil wasn't seeming to be used for the proper use now.

Hop fought back an adoring "aw" when he saw a little riolu practicing it's attacks, punches and kicks on the side of the anvil, letting out little battle cries with each attack, kick and punch. It was so adorable if he was honest.

After a moment, it stopped to put its paws on its knees, gasping for breath as it shifted, eventually tilting its head just enough to spot Hop out of the corner of its eye, making it jump and spin to face him.

"Ahh, it's alright!" Hop held up his hands placatingly. "Not gonna hurt you or anything. I will say though, from what I just saw, you'd definitely be able to take on anyone who decided to pick a fight with you, that's for sure!"

The Riolu blinked before seeming to blush, putting its paws together in front of it and shift shyly with a quiet murmur of. "Ri, riolu…" It then gave him a little bow which he returned with a smile.

He backed up and left the smithy then, walking out to see Alira leaving the bakery across the way.

"Found something!" She called out once she saw him, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the diary she found. "I can't read it though."

"I'm guessing what's written is in ancient writing?" Hop tilted his head at her, eying the book curiously.

"Yep. Galarian I'd assume." She nodded, then yawning slightly. "We should set camp in the town center, then resume exploring in the morning."

He nodded and they made their way back to camp, finishing setting camp and making dinner by the time the moon was half way up in the skies.

After eating, Alira sat down and pulled out the rusted sword from her bag almost unconsciously, bringing the rag and cleaner she had as well. She began working on the other side she hadn't gotten to yet, Hop watching her curiously as her movements seemed practiced, deliberate in a manner that was strange.

Then as she was cleaning it, eyes glazed over in thought, he noticed the subtle, slight glow of not only the sword, but her hands and eyes as well. As her hand with the rag on the blade wiped down, the rust simply vanished in a twinkle of sparkles and left the blade looking as pristine as the day it was forged.

"Holy cow!" Hop's voice snapped Alira out of whatever trance she was in, glow beginning to vanish from her eyes and hands, as well as the sword. "Alira how did you do that?"

"What?" She looked over, confused.

"Your hands and eyes are glowing, as well as the sword and you just magically removed all that rust and grime!" He pointed to the sword and her gaze dipped down to look at it, eyes wide as she caught the last traces of the glow on her hands and the sword before it vanished.

"Well will you look at that… I knew it wasn't just this cleaner stuff." She gasped out. "How though? I'm not-" She broke off into a light laugh, thinking aloud. "I'm not a mage or something, though I believe in magic, sure mom was in a weird cult who used magic when she was younger but left LONG before I was born, so what the hell."

"Think it's cause of how close we are to the castle?" He pointed a thumb in the direction of the castle outlined by the moonlight.

"Nope, I did the other side of it weeks ago when we first started trying to find it." Her mouth pursed and she narrowed her eyes at the sword. "I swear the longer I have this the more weird things I do."

"At least you don't need to spend a lot of money getting it restored." He grinned and she snorted.

"God, you're right. Not to mention I know whoever restored it would've flipped cause half of the blade is missing." She shook her head, laughing. "My poor wallet and ears." She yawned once more. "God I need to stop doing that."

"We should probably get to bed so we can have a early start tomorrow." Hop stretched, hearing some of his bones crack from being in the same position for too long.

Alira nodded as she yawned again, the two getting up before retiring to their sleeping bags, praying they'd get a dreamless night sleep.

But… Their dreams were far from dreamless.

In fact, they were plenty, long and far from what the two were used to at this point.

* * *

_Hop's dreams were strange and jumped around, but he had a general sense of what order they took._  
_  
First was a scene laced with panic. Acaeus pulled Heather along as they made a break for shelter in a tower from the giant pokemon roaming and causing destruction in the wild fields beyond._

_Acaeus all but broke down the door, dragging the smaller girl in before slamming it shut, dully realizing that he'd had pulled them into that tower Heather noted had the aura of a magic-user living here not long before they were being chased by a giant Ralts._

_His gaze drifted around, spotting jars of herbs and spices and various things up on shelves around the room, a pot was in the middle of the room and the scent of the room was exotic if not downright _weird_._

_A older-looking espeon trilled as it came out of a basket across the room, trotting up to them and sniffing at the two curiously for a moment before chirping and running up the stairs to the second floor._

_Acaeus looked as Heather with his eyes and silently gulped, praying that if the pokemon was indeed getting its human owner, they wouldn't kick them out back to deal with what was going on out there._

_Footsteps then resounded, slow but steady and a gypsy-looking man walked down the steps, gold hazel eyes finding the two intruders immediately. His skin was dark as if he had traveled for months on end in the hotter months, dark hair long enough to look tousled and a thick bang hung down past his nose framing his mature features. His outfit was what Acaeus would describe as a traveling merchant's attire, but the staff he held in a hand that hummed to Acaeus's senses with magic told a different occupation._

_"Hello." he greeted them as he reached the last step, his staff clacking softly as it hit the carpet below his feet. "May I have your names young ones?"_

_"Errm," Acaeus fumbled, really, he thought the man would ask what they were doing in his tower first. "I'm Acaeus Seiros."_

_"H-Heather Reus Eisner." Heather stammered, barely audible as her middle name surprised him and stuck out to Acaeus, wait, __**Reus**__? Isn't that-_

_"Pleasure to meet you two." The man smiled pleasantly at the two as his espeon and a strangely purple and blue sylveon circled his feet. "You may call me Markus." He shifted his grip on his staff, leaning it against his other hand. "I presume you sought shelter in here from the giant pokemon running around?"_

_The two hesitantly nodded and the man took a chance to peer at Heather, eyes scrutinizing her face carefully as if noticing something._

_"Huh. You've got old looking binding marks my dear." He suddenly remarked out of the blue, making Heather pale quite a bit and Acaeus to swivel his head to look at her. "Whoever did those made sure to hide them with a spell, I wouldn't have been able to see them if I wasn't well versed in their use."  
_

Binding marks_, the highest form of punishment to anyone with magical talent in Acaeus's (or __**any**__) kingdom could get, it restricted the magic they could use at best or made them completely unable to use magic at all, which considering it was like a second heart for any magic-user was like carving their heart out with a rusty blade. And from the few times he was forced to witness the ritual, it hurt like it too. The ritual always left a series of tattoos on the person's body, a sign and a warning to all other magic users to not step out of line or that would happen to them._

_If Heather had them... but no, he was always informed on anyone going to undergo that punishment at his father's request after Acaeus found out he had the potential to use magic and he certainly never heard of a Heather REUS being-_

_"Fortunately, it seems they were made by a complete and utter _**novice**_, it would take little to undo them though you would still have the markings." Markus finished his sentence and crossed his arms, staff in the crook of a elbow. "Though you two look remarkably like two friends of some charges I've been tending to after they were injured by that black bone dragon creature, they've been rather worried about their human friends, describing them to me in case I see them, and it's been a fight to keep them in bed resting."_

_Friends? "You mean Zen and Zacia?" Acaeus put the matter of the apparent binding marks on a mental shelf to inquire about to Heather later and focused on the fact that this man may have Zacian and Zamazenta in his care._

_He raised an amused eyebrow. "Oh, they didn't mention that their friends gave them _nicknames_." He chuckled, seemingly very amused. "But assuming you are indeed referring to who I have in my care, yes. After that black dragon creature hatched from the fallen star, they attempted to fight it after it began causing chaos, however, as they are not as strong as their parent they barely escaped with their lives. Foolish pups. I found them not long after and took them in, they've been recovering since then."_

_"Can we see them?" Heather's voice quivered slightly, hands gripping at her skirt to clearly prevent them from trembling. "Please?"_

_"Follow me then." He motioned them to follow him as he went back up the stairs, the two young adults hesitantly following him as his sylveon and espeon trailed close behind them._

_He lead them to step off the stairs onto the second floor landing, the smell of herbs here was strongly like the one that Acaeus was familiar with in the healer's tent, and on two beds further into the room-_

_"Zacia!" Heather ran forward to the bed the aforementioned pokemon was on, the poor thing had several bandages all over her body and was out cold. "Gods you're in rough shape."_

_"Zen!" Acaeus ran over to the other bed to Zamazenta, sharply noticing the bandages around the poor pokemon's neck and torso. He hardly stirred as Acaeus placed a hand on him, feeling his chest rise and fall with each breath._

_Markus watched them carefully before sighing. "Well, it seems you two are their friends, I can both feel your magic signatures on them and theirs on you. And as such, I should tell you they are not in good shape. I've got them stable for the moment but…" He shook his head. "I don't know what that creature did to them, but their magical energy is being drained, probably due to what's going on outside. They might die if this keeps up."_

_"Is there anything we can do?" Heather immediately asked, looking to the mage with determination in her gaze._

_"There is one way, but…" He put his hand to his chin in thought. "It'd bind them to your souls in ways only you two and them could possibly know, and to add to this, I'd be required to remove both the illusion spell cast on you, dear Heather, to hide your binding marks, then promptly undo said marks so your mana pool which is certainly very deep now due to disuse is no longer bound. I doubt _any _of this will be pleasant, especially undoing what's already been done to you I suspect will be very painful."_

_"I don't care. If it means saving Zacia I'd do anything, she already saved me once, it's time I returned the favor." Heather's voice was firm._

_"I concur, I would do anything to help Zen and I'm not about to stand idly by while he's dying in front of me." Acaeus nodded, thinking back to when he first helped Zen and how if given a second chance would always pick saving him, even after enduring the wrath of his retainer after he returned after he ran off into the woods._

_"Very well." He shifted, staff now being held in a hand firmly as he placed one end on the floor. "Firstly, Heather, the spell and binding marks will be dealt with. I cannot say exactly how much pain it will cause, as those marks look to be from when you were merely a child, but I shall endeavor to make sure it's as painless as possible."_

_She nodded and stepped forward, only the slightest quiver of her hands showing she was frightened as the mage raised his staff and began to chant, a glowing sigil appearing below her feet and previously unseen markings on her face flaring with light. Her voice hissed in pain, but she remained standing even as she shook and tears slipped down her face._

_Then the dream shifted, and it was much farther into the future of Acaeus and Heather, during what seemed to be a royal ball._

_Acaeus felt something twinging in his head as he dealt with another aristocrat, he had long sent Heather to hide near the back of the ballroom as while he hated dealing with these people and their political power plays, he at least knew how to handle them. She was raised as a commoner and while that made her a good person, it left her worryingly naive of how courts worked and how easily she could be taken advantage of if anyone knew._

_Acaeus nearly sighed in relief as he finally sent that nosy aristocrat away, only to tense as he noticed a certain person approaching him._

_"Ah, good day my fellow king." Claude Von Riegan, king of the neighboring Kalos kingdom, greeted him warmly and surprisingly kindly. "You look like you're having fun with all the nobles."_

_"Ha, you have _no _idea." _Crap_, Heather's sarcasm rubbed off on him as Acaeus's voice practically dripped with irritated sarcasm and he felt his forehead twitch. Didn't help Claude's aquamarine/green eyes sparked with mischief and amusement at the very clearly irritated and drained fledgling king's tone of voice._

_"Well, you needn't worry about me bothering you for long. I just had a question." The mixed race king smiled innocently, the smile coming easily to the slightly older young man as he blew the stray lock of hair in front of his face away. "Would you kindly let me give your queen a dance on this fine eve? She looks like she could use some levity and frankly a break from the nobility swarming in this rather stuffy ballroom."_

_Wait _what_-Acaeus swiveled his head to look for Heather to see her practically dying as several nobles, mainly the queens of the other kingdoms, pestered her and she really didn't know how to react. They were probably quizzing her on her binding marks which were definitely visible and god he needed to get over there but he had to stay here-_

_"If you wouldn't mind, she's… She wasn't raised as a princess so she doesn't..." The latter part was barely audible, but Claude seemed to hear him just fine._

_"I totally get that your highness, she and I are alike in that respect at least." He winked, a hand briefly coming up to scratch the stubble lining his jaw before he made his way over, shoving and gliding through the crowd with practiced ease._

_"Hey hey, give the new queen a break, you may as well be suffocating her." Claude smoothly slides between the queens bothering the girl and stood in front of her, his voice being loud enough for Acaeus to hear him from where he stood not far away. Claude then turned to Heather and smiled gently. "Hey, your king gave me permission so may I kindly have this dance?"_

_She blinked before nodding shyly and he reached over, carefully and gently grabbing her hand before pulling her through the crowd and onto the ballroom floor._

_Acaeus watched as Claude spoke very softly to her, clearly telling her where to put her other hand as he shifted his grip on her hand and placed his other hand on her waist while she put her other hand on her shoulder. Then the two started dancing slowly with the music, Heather slowly easing into it under Claude's patient guidance and hands (Acaeus was lucky he was taught to have a poker face when around nobles, cause he was certain he'd have winced _numerous times_ when she stepped on Claude's feet and the man seemed to not notice). Eventually, she got the hang of it and even rested her head on Claude's chest, completely at ease now as she even had her eyes closed._

_Acaeus felt something akin to jealousy make his skin crawl uncomfortably at that, seeing Heather dancing with Claude and being so close to him, it made him uncomfortable in a manner he wasn't sure how to put to words._

_"You alright there? You've been staring for quite some time." Acaeus jumped at the sudden soft and mature female voice and turned to see who he recognized as Byleth Riegan, Claude's wife and queen of many years now, standing at his side with a soft smile._

_"Yeah, just, not used to this." He managed to get out and she raised an amused eyebrow._

_"Come, walk with me, talk with me away from prying ears. Claude will safeguard your queen until we return." She motioned him to follow her as she began to walk away towards the entrance to a hallway. For a moment he hesitated, remembering all the nobility training his parents had hammered into his head to never ever follow if it wasn't with someone he personally knew as they could be luring him to his demise-_

_But he was also _highly aware_ of the reputation Claude and Byleth had as rulers of Kalos and while Claude was sometimes described as a schemer, he had shown no hostility towards Acaeus and even helped Heather out for seemingly no reason, and Byleth was always described as direct and blunt if she considered someone a threat no matter what was going on or where she was. If she wanted to hurt him or saw him as a threat, she would have _already _shown so._

_He followed Byleth, thankfully the route she took him through the crowd ensured they slipped out without anyone noticing. The hall they entered was empty and dark with only the moonlight from the windows illuminating the hall, but Byleth walked as if it were no issue and Acaeus followed._

_"You and Heather certainly aren't the most conventional king and queen I've seen." Byleth remarked softly as they walked. "Heather was raised as a commoner wasn't she?"_

_"Yeah. It that easy to tell?" Acaeus felt his neck grow hot, he had done his best to teach her what he knew of nobles and how to act like one, but if Byleth noticed…_

_"No, but the fact that Claude was able to easily help her did hint at it, he had to do that many times with me." She picked at the sleeve of her dress with mild annoyance at how tight the fabric was and tilted her head back, giggling mildly at his expression. "What? Is it that surprising that I was once a commoner?"_

_"A little, but it explains how you and Claude rule so well." Acaeus scratched the back of his head. "You know how the everyday people feel as you didn't grow up in the lap of luxury, giving you a perspective nobles often lack."_

_"Yeah. Though I would recommend addressing your own feelings for Heather before something happens." She then stopped and turned on her heel, piercing blue eyes framed by dark blue hair freezing Acaeus in place midstep, the question of what she meant by his feelings for Heather dying in his throat as she spoke. "However, I did not drag you away from the ball and Heather to idly talk though. I'm here to warn you."_

_"Of what?" He felt the back of his neck prickle with cold chills._

_"Of the group known as the Eternal Ones." Somehow that name sent a chill down his back. "I'm not going to lie to you, prior to Eternatus' hatching, I sent several of my spies and operatives to scout this land, see if it was worth opposing your home kingdom's claim to it. What they found was disturbing."_

_She crossed her arms and for a few moments, her eyes appeared to have dragon slits for pupils in the moonlight. "The locals from before any of us known kingdoms set foot here were worshiping some strange being they prophesied arriving in an egg from the skies and then they would aid it in hatching. My spies joined the group to watch them and the group are the ones who were helped Eternatus hatch, they-"_

_She swallowed, hands clenching into fists as raw fury flickered in her eyes. "They did __**blood magic**__, sacrificing at least three people, to speed up that foul creature's hatching and would've gladly watched it destroy this land and the entire world." She inhaled and let it out slowly, hands relaxing. "Fortunately, you and Heather seemed to make some manner of pact with Zamazenta and Zacian that gave you four the power to seal it away."_

_Acaeus briefly was amused even she didn't seem to know what happened that granted him and Heather as well as Zamazenta and Zacian the power to defeat Eternatus, but remained silent as Byleth continued._

_"However, just because it was sealed away, does not mean that group went away." Her hands dropped to her sides and picked at her skirt's embroidery, she couldn't seem to sit still. "They've integrated into your kingdom and from what I've been hearing, they are plotting something to get back at you and Heather. My operatives have been doing their best to feed me information, but it's hard when we've had to keep this hidden from you and Heather."_

_"What are you getting at?" Acaeus was very unsure of where she was going with this, though he had a suspicion._

_"You and Heather, you are the strangest king and queen to ever rule, all the kingdoms are aware of it and many of them don't like that you and your friend aren't husband and wife. They say it's blasphemous and shouldn't exist." Her voice, while matter of fact and honest, had a very distinct ring of sympathy. "Many have plots to dismantle your kingdom while it's still young and then take and divide the land amongst themselves and the Eternal Ones will take full advantage of that if it happened. Me and Claude, as well as the rulers of Sinnoh and queen Milisandia of Unova oppose this greatly as you both have done nothing to earn the other kingdoms' ire and we want to make sure they don't succeed."_

_She straightened her back and held her hands together in front of her waist. "What I propose is this; You two and your kingdom enter the Leicester Alliance my husband Claude is the leader of, Milisandia of Unova and the rulers of Sinnoh are apart of this and have been for a long while, and we will protect you from both this group and the other kingdoms as best we can and provide you our resources if you need it. All we ask in return is you come help us if any of us need it, we won't restrict you from aiding any kingdom outside of the alliance if they come to you for aid so don't worry about that, and if needed we ask you let our people shelter here if something like a war happens and we need to get the common folk not involved in it to safety."_

_"It sounds like we would get more out of this than you." Acaeus didn't bother hiding his shock, gaping at her._

_"You're a fledgling kingdom, we don't want to uproot a possible rose bush or apple tree before it has the chance to grow. Every kingdom deserves a chance." She smiled gently at him. "And honestly, from what I've seen I don't want it to be torn apart by the other kingdoms." She then leaned over and lightly tapped him on the nose. "Plus you and Heather remind me of my students from long ago, and I'll protect you like I did them."_

_"You were a teacher before becoming queen?" He was confused and her chuckle did nothing to clear anything up._

_"Merc, then teacher, __**then **__queen." She giggled at his confusion before quick-stepping around him. "Come. Let us return to the ball, I don't doubt Claude's dancing skills but we best make haste before our absence is noticed. You can let me and Claude know if you accept after talking it over with Heather."_

_Acaeus rushed to follow her as they returned to the ballroom, thinking over her words and offer._

_The dream shifted yet again, to something that felt much more chaotic and after he had accepted her offer._

_Acaeus was on a rapidash with Heather holding onto him from behind and he was following a few other people also on rapidashes, they were leading him and Heather through deserted streets._

_They evacuated the town's people from this district and were on their way to deal with the two dragons causing the destruction. Acaeus and Heather didn't know too much about the dragons other than one was white, the other black and Milisandia said that apparently, one belonged to her husband and the other to his brother, though neither were the partners of the dragons now._

_Zacian and Zamazenta were with them of course, but they were invisible and following the group quietly, as neither wanted to deal with anyone trying to pet them that wasn't Acaeus or Heather._

_"Hey, King Acaeus." The prince-turned-king almost jumped in his saddle and turned to the knight at his side, spotting the girl knight, Ingrid, one of the knights the rulers of Sinnoh had assigned to him as a retainer. Her long blond hair was currently in a low and very thick braid, bangs cropped above her pale green eyes which were alight with curiosity._

_"Yes?" he tilted his head at her inquisitively._

_"I've been rather curious for a while now, why is it you only carry a shield and no sword?" He supposed this was a long time coming, and it wasn't like he hadn't been given looks for his choice of the shield over the sword and absolute refusal to use one, and as his new retainer after Roderick he guessed she had a right to ask. Not like they could make this trek through the very large city any shorter so he had the time to tell it._

_"Well… As a prince I've dealt with attempts on my life,. Nothing new, as that's to be expected with my status." He began, feeling Heather shift slightly to better hear him, _he hadn't yet told her this either, had he? _"But… One day, I was playing with my older sister, Ailrane, we weren't more than children, she was set to be crowned princess as she was old enough to take on the title while I was old enough to begin training to take on the title of prince."_

_Damnit, he felt his throat clogging but he pressed on. "Well, some assassins snuck past our retainers and they didn't notice until they were on us. I was lucky in that Ailrane knew how to defend herself and had a dagger with her at all times being thirteen and the eldest of my parents' children, I… was not so fortunate. I had just turned eight and later that day was set to start learning how to defend myself, so at most I was able to duck and dodge out of the way of the sword being swung at me. But I messed up, I tripped."_

_He took a moment to steady his breathing after it got a little too quick for his liking and he felt Heather's grip on him tighten. "I was certain my life was going to end, and it would have, if Ailrane hadn't… She ran over, completely ignoring the assassin she was dealing with and jumped him, stabbing him in the back over and over. He was dead by the time she stood up, but. She, the other assassin, he-_gods-_"_

_He let go of the reigns with a hand to put a shaking hand on his face as the far too vivid memories flooded his mind, he fought through it to continue while he felt a comforting pulse of comfort come from Zamazenta. "He, the coward stabbed her through the back, his sword's end was sticking out of her chest as he lifted her off the ground with her still alive for even the briefest of moments, the last thing I heard her say was 'I love you Acaeus' before the light faded from her eyes and the bastard just, swung his sword to the side and flung her off it as if she were nothing more than a useless pillow he just skewered."_

_He shook his head, making sure he got the tears that formed at the corners of his eyes discreetly with his hand before he lowered his hand as Heather squeezed his middle comfortingly. "Our retainers had reached us by then and Ailrane's made short work of the vile man, but that event has stuck with me for my entire life. If I had already been learning how to use a sword, perhaps I would've thrown myself into it even more, perhaps becoming very skilled with the sword even, but after that I… I couldn't even look at a sword without thinking of what happened to my sister and wanting to be sick, let alone pick one up to train. I had to at one point as my previous retainer was such a goddamn arse, but I always felt sick even if I hid it well."_

_"O-Oh. I didn't know that's why you refused you wield a sword." Ingrid looked shocked and her eyes were wide. "You have my condolences."_

_He waved a hand, but said nothing. He really couldn't, not only did he need to pack the pain from the memories he relived back into the box they came from, but he also had to focus as he could see they were getting closer to the battle zone. Shouting from two males and roars from the two pokemon he learned their names were Reshiram and Zekrom, echoing throughout the empty streets._

_He couldn't afford to be crying over something that happened fifteen years ago, he already got enough grief not being able to move on growing up so he had to _shut his trap_, or else what kind of king would he be then?_

_The group dismounted their rapidashes before continuing on foot, Zamazenta and Zacian sticking close to their respective partners as the small group crept carefully down the street._

_Acaeus pulled his shield from his back, fingers tracing the words that had been inscribed on it what seemed like ages ago for good luck before he slipped it on, noting that Heather had a light grip on her sword's hilt. Ready to draw it at a moment's notice he knew._

_They reached the literal end of the street, as the buildings around it had been completely leveled to the ground and were nothing more than rubble now._

_And there, in the middle of the clearing amidst rubble and upturned street stone and dirt, were the two dragon pokemon in question, partners at their side shouting commands._

_He heard the distinct sound of Heather unsheathing her sword and noticed the words on the blade catching the light of the sun out of the corner of his eye, but instead focused on the two very much larger dragon pokemon who were charging up attacks once more. Before Acaeus could do much other than partially open his mouth to ask Ingrid and the other knight with them (Sylvain was it?) what the plan was, Heather acted._

_"That's ENOUGH!" Heather disappeared in a literal flash of light and reappeared right in between the pokemon in a flash of magic._

_"HEATHER!" Acaeus ran forward, a hand drawing back before he threw it forward, a see-through shield appearing and flying from his hand. She slashed through the fire attack that was flung at Zekrom while the shield reached her back in time to block the lightning from said pokemon.  
_

_Acaeus raced to join her, but something made the dream jolt and th_e sounds of something loud ripped through the air, _HOP WAKE UP SHE NEEDS YOU_ Hop's eyes snapping open as he awoke with a start.

After a moment, he realized it was a _scream._

* * *

_The visions Alira saw were nothing if not abrupt and strange and jumped around so much she'd get a headache if she were awake._  
_  
First she was in so much pain, something unnatural was being ripped off her soul and while it was freeing so much of her very being that was locked away and denied from her, the pain she was in made her knees buckle and she fell to the ground, sobbing with tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she covered them with her hands._

_She felt Markus's magic recede as he finished the spell, and then heard footsteps rushing to her before she was picked up so very gently. She dully noticed it was Acaeus holding her so carefully and petting her hair gently as he let her sob into his chest._

_It took her a little bit to calm herself down, and after she did she noticed the slight feeling of cool energy running through her, just beneath her skin, _magic_. Her magic she hadn't been able to feel since leaving Kanto when she was only five-_

_What few sobs now escaped her were not of pain, but relief and raw joy, she finally felt like herself and not half wrong. Not missing half of her very being._

_Eventually her emotions settled completely, though it took more than a few assurances that she was okay now to get Acaeus to let her go so she could stand up._

_Acaeus kept a hand on her arm, notably, she saw his hand was on the slightest bit of a binding mark trailing from under her sleeve- __**wait**__, her eyes sharply noticed the mystic markings trailing down both her arms and onto her hands. Binding marks always were on the parts of one's self where your magic was strongest, so where else did she-_

_No, there was no time to wonder about where else the cursed and foul markings where on her body, Zacian and Zamazenta needed their help._

_"Now what?" She turned to the mage, seeing him leaning on his staff slightly as if winded before he stood up straight when she looked over._

_"Ahem!" He cleared his throat, rubbing at his neck as he cracked it seemingly out of habit. "Now to explain how you two can help them."_

_He shifted his grip on his staff. "Now, their mana pools are being drained at a steady rate, likely due to whatever energy that creature had used in it's attacks, it's like a sickness of magic or soul from my observations for them, however, I can bind and link your souls to theirs, effectively canceling that out as humans are not majorly affected by this energy." His grip tightened slightly. "It makes us magic inclined folk uncomfortable or in some cases causes active binding marks to burn slightly as it's like a different form of mana and our own mana doesn't know how to react, but we aren't affected like our dear Pokemon companions. They either are forced into those giant forms or, like with your friends, drained of their magical energy."_

_The two turned to look at each other, flabbergasted but it made sense with how uneasy they both were whenever they were in the areas where those giant pokemon were running around and Heather's aching all over her body when directly next to said giant pokemon._

_"Now, I don't know exactly how deeply this connection I'm going to be making will run, I've been practicing magic all my life but even I am not fully aware of the risks and consequences of what I'm about to do to save them." Markus began, but Heather held up a hand._

_"Frankly speaking sir, spare us the warnings. We want to save our friends, and I think I speak for both of us in saying we would do anything to help them." Heather immediately wanted to take back her words, forced habit making her panic that she spoke out of turn but squashed that urge, meeting the mage's gaze evenly._

_"She speaks the truth, if it means saving our friends, no cost is too great." Acaeus agreed firmly, grasping Heather's hand with one of his own._

_Markus stared at them for a time, trying to detect any lie in their words clearly before he nodded. "If that is what you two wish, I will, however, tell you that if either if you die before Zacian and Zamazenta's mana pools recover and maybe even after, it will either leave them severely weakened to where they much sleep for a long while or kill them outright. With that in mind, give me your sword and shield, then hold out your hands."_

_Though confused, they gave him their sword and shield then held out their hands. Markus held the sword and shield in his hands, staff shifted into an elbow as he murmured words softly as the sword and shield glowed._

_"This may sting a bit, just fair warning." He warned them before speaking a single word. "Kiru."_

_The duo hissed in unison as a small cut was opened up on both of their hands, the smallest drops of blood floating from their palms before he murmured something else, the wound closing not long after. The blood drops floated over to their owner's respective item and hovered over them._

_"Apologies, this is merely a precaution and a sort of buffer between your mana pools, I'd rather not use this vile magic if I could." He softly said, forehead scrunching as he closed his eyes. "Arceus, please aid me with this…" he then began to speak a mixture of what he was speaking before and what seemed to be the language of pokemon._

_The sword and shield glowed brilliantly and the drops of blood fell onto them, the glow brightening for a few more moments and when the glow died down, they looked the slightest bit different. Runes ran down the length of Heather's sword now and when Acaeus was handed his shield back, there were runes carved into the back of his shield near the grips._

_"With Arceus's help, thank god, I was able to empower your weapons and link your magic to them, which will also aid in what I'm going to do next." He spoke softly, breath the slightest bit ragged but he didn't give them time to comment. "I can't daly and explain, so all I'll say is brace yourselves."_

_The bottom of his staff hit the ground with a solid thud, and he began chanting, eyes flaring with light as a mystical sigil appeared below the two._

_They merely looked at each other and nodded, Acaeus slipping his shield on his arm and bearing it in front of him, whilst Heather held her sword pointing up before moving her arm to have it hover in front of the shield, forming the image of a sword in front of a shield._

_The sigil below them flashed, morphing into a symbol of their shield and sword in the same formation they were holding them. They then felt their very souls lurch and patterns flared to life with light across Acaeus's skin while Heather's binding marks flashed with light as well._

_Heather only had the time to realize that clearly binding marks weren't solely created during the ritual but a butchering of already existing magic patterns and pathways on one's body before the feeling of her soul lurching again sent the world spinning but she still remained standing._

_A glowing thread of light extended from their chests, similar threads of light coming from Zacian and Zamazenta. When Zacian's and Heather's connected and Zamazenta's connected with Acaeus, their visions flooded with light as all their senses were filled to the frim with known and unknown scents, smells and sensations-_

_It was too much, they passed out with the last thing they both saw was Zacian and Zamazenta opening their eyes._

_The dream jolted and shifted to several weeks past this event, after the bonding of their souls and where they confronted Eternatus._

_The two could see it, that bone dragon they now merely called Eternatus circling in the skies above it's nest, where it's egg landed months ago. The energy that was radiating off it would've sent both their pokemon partners and Heather to their knees weeks prior, but not now. It made their skin crawl sure, but not enough to immobilize them like Zacian and Zamazenta told them happened during their encounter with it._

_The two humans and pokemon approached as boldly as they dared, in truth they did not know how this battle would turn out, but armed with the assistance of their friends and magic, they had a better chance than anyone else. Hopefully._

_They stared up as they came to a halt before the nest, but it seemed the creature didn't care to look down or guard it's nest._

_Zacian's concern but determination leaked through the mind link she now had with Heather, and likewise Heather's fright but resolve to stop Eternatus was felt by the pokemon as they stared._

_"_Ready?_" Zacian asked and Heather laughed through the mind link, but shook her head._

_Verbally she replied with. "I could never be ready to fight such a creature, but today is better than none to try to stop this thing."_

_Acaeus and Zamazenta chuckled at that, the two dog pokemon brushing against their respective partner and once again the two humans had to steady their feet, as the pokemon's new heights at nearly their shoulders was still something they weren't used to yet._

_After nodding at each other, the two pokemon turned to the skies, inhaled before howling as loud as they could. The creature stilled in the air, slithering to look down at them as if curious and even tilted it's head. Once it saw who was down there, the curious seeming aura it had vanished, replaced with hostile annoyance as if they were bugs it thought it killed but hadn't and had come back to annoy it._

_Heather looked at Acaeus and at his nod, she brought her sword up and he bared his shield. She then clashed her sword against his shield, seeing the two objects start glowing, upon which they turned to their pokemon. While Zamazenta rested his head against Acaeus's shield, Heather pointed the sword at Zacian, the weapon and shield glowing brilliantly and it wasn't long before the two dog pokemon glowed brightly as well._

_The braids on Zacian shifted and twisted, unraveling within moments and growing longer as what seemed to be wings sprouted from her shoulders, also gaining a sort of helmet upon her head as well. The light flashed before disappearing, leaving Zacian in a new, more regal form with what seemed to be a royal crown-like helmet on her head, her braids now resembling more of long ribbons. She also had what seemed to be a larger version of Heather's blade, holding it by the hilt in her mouth._

_Heather glanced over to Zamazenta, seeing he had changed as well, he now had a set of golden armor covering the front of his body like a shield and his ponytail had grown to cover his back. They also grew in size as well, well over two feet taller than their human companions now._

_Zamazenta roared up at Eternatus while Zacian did much the same, bearing her sword as well as she howled through her teeth at the dark dragon in the sky, the humans bearing their shield and sword at it._

_To their credit, the thing seemed to at least take them mildly seriously, as it shifted to fully face them. The glowing core they could see at the center of it's ribcage glowed ever brighter and it opened its maw, energy building before shooting down at them._

_Zamazenta and Acaeus immediately took front point, Acaeus's eyes glowing as his shield glowed red, and the side parts of the armor Zamazenta had slid forward to lock into a solidly shield formation, glowing red as well as a large see through shield appeared and blocked the beam firing down at them._

_While they waited for the beam to stop, Zacian wrapped one of her fur ribbons around Heather's middle firmly, Zacian watching, waiting as Heather braced herself. As soon as the beam dropped, Zacian took off in a sprint, sword glowing and being encased with light that formed sharp blade edges before she jumped into the air, much higher than she normally could to where she was nose to nose with Enternatus in a matter of moments._

_The dark creature hardly had time to react as Zacian slashed at it, the light parts of the blade breaking off to slash at the creature of their own accord. As she did this, she threw Heather up and over Eternatus's head._

_Heather tumbled down the massive creatures spine neck, but caught herself on one of the spikes running down its spine, hooking her arms on it to situate herself so she could sit up. The creature may be largely bones, but this thing was huge and the spine was big enough for at least five of her to lay side by side comfortably._

_She peered over the side and her heart lurched, it was a _LONG _way down. On the bright side, Zacian, Zamazenta and Acaeus were definitely keeping its attention, she saw that when Acaeus sent a bolt of lighting to its face and Zamazenta soon flatout bashed into its face with his shield._

_The brief amusement that flickered through her mind wasn't noticed as she got to her feet, wobbling as the thing was still moving around and firing off attacks at her friends, before running and sliding down the spine to the ribcage._

_A bump nearly sent her flying but thankfully she caught herself with a hurried spell of "Skýt!", a gust of wind soon supporting her back so she kept her balance and made her way to the ribcage, peering down as she gulped. The gap between each rip was absolutely huge, like a gorge back in her home kingdom, it would be so easy to fall in and she couldn't tell if she'd fall into that red energy or if it was solid enough she'd bounce off and fall to her death._

_No, no time for that. She sat down, binding marks flaring with light as she began to chant the beginning of the sealing spell. "_Siel, sieg, freia, orphi, laina shalor~_" The magic language felt strange on her tongue, primal and beyond ancient, but she was following what Markus taught her and they seemed to be working._

_As she prepared to lay her hand down and put down the first sigil on the spine of Eternatus, it seemed to finally take notice of her. It suddenly shook its body to the side, sending her toppling over the side with a scream._

_No she had to make sure it got on it! In an act of desperation, she twisted and stabbed her sword into the red energy between it's ribs, her fall halting with a jolt as it roared in pain while her hand slammed onto the side of the rib to her right, left hand tightly holding the hilt of her sword._

_The sigil blazed to light on the black surface, and with that she kicked off the creature, screaming through the metal link. "_ZACIAN!_"_

_Zacian lept up and caught her on her back, both fur ribbons wrapping securely around the human before light engulfed them both as their swords flashed and glowed with pure magic as their soul connection sung and pulsed-_

_Heather, or was it _Zacian_? It didn't matter _**there was no time to think on what just happened,** she _landed on _her _feet, tail brushing the ground, flicking a long half braided sidebang along with the long back hair of hers over her shoulder as she adjusted her grip on her sword, peering over at where Zamazenta was with Acaeus to meet _his _yellow eyes with a wolfish grin pulling at _his _features, framed by the gold and red helmet _he _wore matching his armor, skin a blotchy mix of tan and beige. _

He _nodded at her and the two beings looked up at Eternatus as it started to try to fly up into the air, it's vile energy building in the clouds above. They knew it was going to use some huge attack which would likely decimate the surrounding area. They couldn't let it get that attack off.  
_  
She_ jumped up into the air, soon right beside it as magic coiled and snapped around her free hand. She hardly let it realize she was right beside it before she threw the rope of magic energy over its neck spine, it wrapped around it twice before the creature jerked, the end of the magic rope going lax and hanging wildly as she held onto her end of it like a life line._

_"That's ENOUGH!" _He _shouted as he lept up, voice of two overlapping, grabbing the other end of the magic rope and adding his magic to it. With a nod at her, they both yanked the rope downward with all their strength._

_Eternatus was suddenly yanked and thrown down onto the ground so abruptly it only had time to let out a startled roar before it slammed into the ground with such force even the trees and cliffs nearby shook and the ground rumbled for miles._

_They landed on their feet near each other, and _she _raised her hand with her sword towards Eternatus as _he _did the same with the hand that had the shield on his arm, beginning to chant in unison._

_"__**Kirera kagima saibastia~**__" A spell of sealing, seal it away back into that foul black egg it came from _**no more** would it trouble their land and its inhabitants _NO MORE-_

_Magic ripped through the air and soared well into the air and dove deep underground, the very air humming with magic and the sword and shield glowed brilliantly and defiantly against Eternatus's powers as it struggled against the bindings and rope but it couldn't move. "__**Inaria miamenta~**__"_

_Their eyes blazed with light of four souls and four sources of magic as tendrils of light of four mana pools swirled through the air around the giant creature to combine into a focal point above it. "__**Asor aita saibastia!**__"_

_"__**Imilia iyasii iya!**__" With that, Eternatus was engulfed in magic light as it roared, magic spinning all around it and it's nest._

_When the magic faded from sight, rope and all, all that remained in the middle of the nest was a large, black egg._

_They sighed in relief, looking at each other with relieved smiles before looking to the now clearing up sky. It was so beautiful to see the blue sky once more and the gentle breeze brushed against their cheeks, tousling their hair as they closed their eyes. The soul connection pulsed gently, lessing how close their souls were bound and with a flash two were now four once more-_

_Zacian caught Heather on her back as Zamazenta did with Acaeus, no longer in those regal forms but back to normal. The two humans were absolutely exhausted, and the pokemon settled down on the ground, curled around the two humans._

_The last thing Heather recalled was wrapping her arms around Acaeus's back and him holding her close before they fell asleep._

_The dream shifted one final time, and Heather was in some tent, leaning over a map with figurines scattered about on top of it._

_Claude and Byleth were going over a battle plan, one Heather focused on to the best of her abilities. She and Acaeus along with Claude and Byleth would lead the charge against the invading forces from Johto and Kanto, biding their time for Dimitri with his forces from Sinnoh and Seteth with his forces from both Unova and wherever else he could get them to arrive and turn the tide of battle._

_It wasn't a new plan by any means, Heather had heard a few like this in the, gods, _at least_ fifteen years she knew Claude and her kingdom was in his alliance, but it was a simple one that worked._

_After ensuring everyone knew their role in the upcoming battle, they adjourned to prepare for the battle._

_Byleth followed Heather into her tent, fingers messing with her now slightly longer hair as she helped Heather into her armor. Claude's little puppy bolt hound, a little yamper, followed the two into the tent and hopped onto Heather's cot, the female pokemon letting her pet her._

_"And there we go." Byleth muttered softly as she finished with the last buckle and stepped back to admire her handy work. "Huh. I'm amazed that I was able to get all the buckles correct."_

_"You've always worked best under pressure from what Claude's told me and what I've seen." Heather chuckled, turning to the older woman to see her smiling softly in return. "Claude's a lucky man you know, he could have married anyone but he picked you."_

_"Good grief little one, you're making me blush." Byleth giggled, covering a reddening cheek with a hand, Heather swore she heard some young girl's laughter softly in the background, but brushed it off._

_"I'm only five years your younger you know. Little one isn't an apt term." Heather grinned, crossing her gauntletted arms as she looked at the taller woman._

_"Only from your point of view." Byleth reached over and tapped her nose, making Heather recoil playfully with a snort. "I see you as a child of my own you should know."_

_Heather blushed bashfully and looked away, scratching at her cheek which she felt was warming._

_"Speaking of, I have an inquiry for you." Byleth shifted, looking away as if nervous. "This is hypothetical mind you, but." Her hands gripped together tightly in front of her middle, to the point her knuckles turned white as she looked at the younger woman before her. "If I were to say be with child, would you want to be the godmother?"_

_"By-lie!" Heather's nickname for the woman tumbled from her mouth with pleasant surprise. "Are you?"_

_"Maybe, for a few weeks now I've been waking up sick and throwing up, I plan after this battle to have Marianne check me with her magic to be sure as you are well aware a bug like this has been running amok among the soldiers for a month now, making many of the female soldiers panic and Marianne need to deal with calming them down with her husband Sylvain's help." Byleth smiled, blue eyes sparkling. "I... do hope it's not that though, me and Claude, we've always wanted children even regardless of our status. And we've been trying for a while, so I'm very hopeful."_

_"Well, if you are indeed with child, congratulations and I would be honored to be the godmother!" Heather sprung forward and hugged Byleth, the woman giggling as she hugged her back._

_"That's wonderful to hear!" The woman all but picked Heather up as she spun her around once. "Claude's going to be so excited if this turns out the way I hope it does." She set Heather down and beamed at her. "Claude thinks of you and Acaeus as his closest friends I hope you know, he'll be over the moon at this."_

_"Really? He thinks that highly of me and Acaeus?" Heather gaped at Byleth who grinned at her._

_"I never tell a lie." She winked at Heather, her expression sincere. Heather stared at her in shock before lunging and hugging Byleth tightly, Byleth chuckling as she hugged her back._

_"_You're happy about something~_" Zacian spoke through their connection to Heather while Heather merely grinned and let her emotions leaked through the bond, making the pokemon laugh in delight. "_That's good! You deserve to be happy._"_

_Heather merely giggled softly, and then let go of Byleth, boldly declaring. "Well, if you plan on telling Claude that, I must share that I plan to tell Acaeus how I feel after this battle. I've thought long and hard, especially after _you **cornered **me_ at the last ball-" Byleth giggled mischievously at that which Heather rolled her eyes before smiling softly. "and I'm certain that I have feelings for him."_

_"Good! I'll help _you_ corner _him _then~" Byleth giggled, grinning as she took Heather's hands in her own._

_Heather merely grinned in response before softly saying. "For once, I don't fear the edge of dawn now. Even as the sun's high in the sky now, I believe the future is looking bright for both our kingdoms."_

_The two girls talked for a while until they heard Claude calling for everyone to assemble and that the enemies were on the horizon, at that they rushed to join their respective partners._

_"Hey, what's got you so happy?" Acaeus asked, grinning at the absolutely beaming Heather as she approached, borderline bounding up to him with Zacian at her side._

_"I'll tell you after the battle." She grinned at him, peering past him and Zamazenta to see Byleth almost tackle hug Claude who caught her with a laugh of "Hey my doe! You're awfully affectionate today."_

_Byleth merely giggled and kissed his cheek before mounting her rapidash and he mounted his blue and gold flygon then taking to the skies while Heather and Acaeus used their sword and shield's magic to let Zamazenta and Zacian assume their crowned forms._

_They looked to the horizon where the enemy army was cresting the hill, and Claude shouted from his mount. "Archers take aim and mages prepare!"_

_Both the archers on the ground and in the air on various flying pokemon readied their bows, Claude included with his strange bow, Failnaught did he call it?_

_"FIRE!" With that, an absolute rain of arrows was let loose and with spells cast on them to make sure they cleared the distance, they reached their targets. Many soldiers and pokemon fell, but the bulk of the army remained and didn't move._

_"Hold…" He held up a hand, waiting, watching for them to make the next move. Mount pokemon shifted uneasily and soldiers shifted their grips on their weapons and shields, flying pokemon shifted as well as clouds covered the skies._

_Zacian shook out her fur, careful to not hit anyone with her sword while Zamazenta shifted his feet, readying himself. Heather drew her sword and readied it as Acaeus shifted how his shield was on his arm._

_"Steady…" Claude scanned the enemy lines, looking for their commanders and his mind already five steps ahead, planning. The air was tense, thick with apprehension as both armies waited for the other to act as rain began to fall._

_Byleth twitched her hand holding her strange sword, the blade glowing before easily coming apart and hung down like a whip, eyes cold and expression almost unfeeling now. Her nickname of the Ashen Demoness fit that face well._

_All of a sudden,a horn resounded from the opposing army, and with resounding shouts, they began their charge._

_"Mages and archers and all pokemon able! Take aim and fire!" Claude's voice rang out over the sound of the rain and his forces did as he commanded. Arrows flew alongside fire balls, ice spikes, lightning bolts, shadow balls and many attacks from both mage and pokemon alike._

_They hit but the army did not slow or pause, continuing down towards the forces of Kalos and Galar, and with that it was all Claude needed._

_"Everyone attack!" He threw his hand forward and his flygone let out a roar as well, at that the army moved forward to meet their attackers._

_Acaeus and Heather ran beside each other with their partners flanking them, Acaeus only slightly lagging behind Heather but that was on purpose._

_Soon the armies were clashing and Heather's sword met an axe, she pushed back against it with a shout, knocking the man back enough for Zacian to leap forward and slash at him, sending him flying and another soldier took his place._

_Heather slashed at him but he dodged and went to strike her, but Acaeus moved and blocked the sword with his shield. Heather took advantage of the momentary confusion caused by him doing that to rush forward and, magic coating her blade as her markings flashed, stabbed him through the chest._

_One after the other, the soldiers kept coming and they kept taking them down, if it wasn't Acaeus shielding Heather or Zacian it was Zamazenta, who also never failed to use his behemoth bash to send handfuls of soldiers flying away as well._

_That was how they fought, she attacked and he shielded, yes by now Acaeus at least had a small dagger and shortsword attached to his belt but they liked fighting like this. They liked relying on each other and trusting each other to watch their back._

_This continued on for a while, time lost its meaning against the seemingly never-ending waves of soldiers and enemies, just keep your wits about you and don't let your guard down ran through her head like a mantra._

_Eventually, however, something changed. Went wrong so wrong _very wrong WHY-

_Heather's ears picked up the sound of a rapidash shrieking in pain and her head snapped around to see Byleth was surrounded by enemy soldiers, her sword in whip form was lashing around wildly at the enemies, trying to get some breathing room but the soldiers had already injured her mount, clearly trying to get it to topple over with her still on it._

_"BYLETH!" Heather shouted and darted towards her friend, Acaeus right behind her with a surprised shout of "H-ǟʟɨʀǟ!"_

_Heather's sword was a blur of gold and red as she cut down all the enemy soldiers standing between her and her friend, she didn't even bother trying to possibly injure them to get them to retreat, she cut them down in her haste. She had to reach Byleth, she had to she wasn't going to lose another friend to her father's forces-!_

_She reached the enemies surrounding her and started cutting them down without remorse, however she didn't make it in time the bastard she just managed to cut down managed to stab his spear into the rapidash's chest, making it rear back with a screech before it toppled over with Byleth shrieking. Heather tried to move quickly enough to just yank Byleth off the mount but she wasn't quick enough Byleth ended up under the pokemon with a scream._

_The shriek of his wife caused Claude's gaze to snap over to see Byleth's lower half had been trapped under the horn pokemon's body, he wasted no time in ordering several troops to cover him as he flew down to the trio as fast as his Flygone could go as well as calling for others to come aid him._

_Heather knelt by Byleth, gods her legs were probably useless now but by the goddess, she was somehow still alive even despite being crushed under the weight of the horn pokemon._

_Heather struggled to move the now very much dead rapidash off her friend so she could attempt what healing magic she knew to try to stablize her until healers got to them, but a sudden shout from Acaeus had her gaze snapping up to see him fending off several opportunistic soldiers only a few feet who were clearly trying to go after the two women while they were not watching their backs._

_Wait, one had a cloak on, the one t_

_**he Eternal Ones always wore OH GOD-**_

_Heather tried to screech out a warning, but as he was swiping away a sword with his own, the bastard wearing the cloak jumped him and stabbed him twice in the back with a dagger before retreating into the chaos around them, the other soldiers retreating as well as Zacian and Zamazenta ran over, Zacian snarling and growling viciously while Zamazenta whimpered in pain as he helped Acaeus to the ground._

_"ACAEUS!" Heather's screech resounded throughout the battlefield, she could taste copper in the back of her throat she wasn't supposed to be shouting like that she had to start speaking normally at a steady rate but she didn't care as she raced over to her dear friend as soon as Claude landed and ran over to Byleth._

_She pulled him into her lap, looking down at him as he smiled up at her, she dully noticed that several of both her soldiers and Claude's surrounded the four humans and two pokemon, protecting them clearly._

_"No one got you right Heth?" He spoke roughly and she shook her head._

_"No you idiot! How could anyone get me, when-When you do stupid things like this!?" She fought against the rising wave of dread and fear threatening to drown her and choked back a sob. Gods he looked so frail now what the hell did that bastard hit when he stabbed him- "Don't-Please Ace please-" A sob escaped her as her words jumbled in her throat._

_"I'm trying not to." He smiled, raising a shaking hand to cup her cheek. "If I had to go out though, I'm glad it's making sure you're safe."_

_"Don't say things like that! You'll, you'll be fine!" Gods where were the healers?! He didn't look like he had much time and- Heather's ears twitched as she caught the sounds of Claude trying to not sob._

_"Byleth please don't-You'll be fine, we've taken some serious hits but we always get back up in the end-"_

_"Heth, there's something I need to tell you." He coughed harshly, Heather's attention snapping back to him and she placed a hand on his chest after ripping her glove off with her teeth, markings spiraling down her fingers and across her hand already glowing._

_"Shut up shut up, you'll be fine we just, we just need to hold out till the medics arrive!" She insisted, using her knee to prop him up and to stanch the bleeding from the wounds on his back how the HELL did that stupid dagger go through his armor like it was nothing- Her healing magic was weak but by god she was trying she couldn't lose him-!_

_"Heather." Her gaze snapped to his, her eyes quickly filling with tears as she placed her other hand on the one he had cupping her cheek._

_"_**I can't lose you Acaeus.**_" She whispered, tears falling down with no sign of stopping as more sobs built in her throat. "I can't-not after what we've been through I can't lose you!"_

_"I know." He cupped her other cheek with his other hand, pulling her head down so her forehead touched his. His amber gaze held so much warmth and, that was love- "I'm so so sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, there was never a good time, but I'm going to just say it now: I love you with my entire soul Heather, and I'm so glad I met you." He smiled so brightly he closed his eyes and moved his hands to loosely wrap around her middle._

_"I love you too Acaeus, that's why I can't-" She sobbed now, dully noting there was a red flash of light from the direction of Claude and Byleth but didn't look over. "Please don't leave me! Please-!" Her voice cut off into sobs before she froze._

_She realized that his chest stopped rising and falling, and his arms fell limply from her when she moved to check his pulse, she didn't feel anything._

_She didn't register it for several moments as she looked up over to Claude and Byleth, finally noticing what was going on. Claude had a hand gripping at his chest as if in pain for a moment as Byleth offered him a loving smile, eyes briefly flashing with magic unknown, before she breathed her last breath and fell limp in her husbands arms._

_Claude froze much like Heather did, briefly calling her name and shaking her, then looking up at Heather with a blank stare before they both lifted their gazes to the skies.  
_

_The sounds they made were neither human nor pokemon, but filled with raw anguish and absolute sorrow all the same-_

Alira awoke with a blood-curdling scream.


	6. Check in

Sonia tapped her foot all but impatiently as she called Alira for the upteemth time, holding her rotom phone to her ear. It rang once before Alira's voice rang out.

_"__My apologies! I'm currently unavailable, this either means I'm somewhere deep in the wild areas, in a area without service or am otherwise unable to answer. Kindly leave a message after the beep! ….Uh, Hop,"_ Her voice seemed to call over her shoulder. _"__How do I stop it recording the message?" "Just press zero Alli!"_ Hop's voice responded and then the beep rang out.

Sonia ended the call there, she already left three voice mails prior, no need to leave another.

Where the hell was the new champion? It was utterly bizarre for her to disappear without a word, sure she did that one time but it was only a week and she hardly ever went off on her own for long periods of time, let alone for a whole _month _like now.

Hop had also vanished without a trace, leaving his brother in a state of worry over the two that every few hours she had to deal with when he literally came barging through the door and asking if she heard from him or Alira. Thank god she had an assistant helping her out now.

Sonia rubbed her head, hearing the door to the lab open and she sighed, assuming it was Leon as she spoke. "Leon, I already told you I haven't been able to contact-" She turned as she was speaking, gaze downward as she stuffed the phone in her pocket, her words stopping abruptly when she looked up and saw, despite the man's tan complexion, he was not in fact Leon.

"Oh sorry sir!" Sonia felt heat creeping up her ears at her mistake and the amused look in his green eyes wasn't helping. "I thought you were someone else, my apologies."

"It's alright milady, you seem stressed so the mix up is understandable." He smiled pleasantly at her, the term milady blitzing her for a moment as he continued. "I hope you don't mind my forwardness, but I was wondering if I could have a couple of your wishing stars? My best friend and I are looking to possibly take on the gym challenge if we can find sponsors and we're planning on getting dyamax bands made."

"What about the ones Rose company makes?" Sonia furrowed her brows as he reached up with a gloved hand to tuck some of his loosely slicked back dark hair behind an ear.

"Production and selling of those has been frozen since chairman Rose turned himself in." He spoke frankly, fiddling with the edges of the sleeves of his cream poet blouse. "Everywhere me and my friend have gone have either refused to sell them or been out of stock and until he's either formally put into prison via a trial or exonerated for his crimes, I think the shortage of mass-produced dyamax bands will persist."

Right, even now she still forgot she had the largest supply of wishing stars and mass production of the bands resuming was far off for a bit, okay then. "Alright, hang on." She rubbed her head as she went behind her desk, opening the door behind it that led down to the basement and quickly went down.

She nodded at her assistant organizing boxes and such at one end of the room before going over to a cabinet and pulling out two wishing stars, tucking them in a pocket as she returned to where the man was still standing patiently.

"Here you go. I assume you'll go to my grandmother to have these set in bands? I know she's got a few empty ones." Sonia watched after handing them to him as he tucked them in a pocket of his black pants.

"Yep, then me and my friend are going to look for a sponsor." He nodded before his gaze flicked to behind her. "Oh, you have a yamper?"

Huh? Sonia turned to see Yamper at one of the bookcases, scratching furiously at a book on a lower shelf to try to get it out. "Oh-Yamper stop that!"

She ran over as the man laughed, batting the pokemon away as he said. "I'll take my leave now, mayhaps I'll see you later miss Sonia."

"Yeah-_Yamper_!" The pokemon jumped up and headbutted the book it was trying to get down, knocking it to the floor as she heard the man leave.

"What's gotten into you?" She scooped the pokemon up under her arm, tapping it on the nose as a way of scolding it. She then bent down to pick up the book which was knocked open and facing up, but froze as she saw a portrait of one of the well known kings of the old medieval kingdoms all the regions used to have on one of the pages.

She put the pokemon down before rushing out of the laboratory to try to catch the man who just left, but she didn't see him anywhere she looked.

She furrowed her brows, that was weird, he couldn't have disappeared that quickly. Regardless she shook her head and went back inside. Must be a descendant of the king's bloodline or something, there was no way Claude Von Riegan, king of Kalos and Galar was still alive. It was impossible.

Behind a tree a small distance away from the lab, the man sighed in relief as she went back inside, him muttering. "That was way too close. Thanks Flyby." He turned and rubbed the head of the shiny flygon by his side. "Let's go find Hilda and Shieon, surely Hilda's done shopping at the clothes store by now, then we head for Hammerlocke and see if Flayn and Seteth are there."

The flygon trilled in agreement and he gently scratched at one of the well-healed scars on its head, which prompted the dragon type to lean into him with a gravelly purr which he laughed at.

* * *

Leon wiped his brow as he left the battle tower for the day, it admittedly was a long day but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't fun to see so many trainers doing their best make their way up the ranks of the tower and even battle the ones that reached the top of their respective ranks.

However his worry over his brother and dare he say his little sister figure was always in the back of his mind, even while he was trying to focus on the battles, so he decided to call it an early day before he got sick with worry.

He called up a Corviknight to take him to Postwick, planning on talking to Sonia to see if she heard anything as soon as he got there, and as he was settling into his seat, his rotom phone buzzed with a ringtone he hadn't heard in a few months and with a grin as he recognized the caller he was quick to answer it.

"Hey Yuna!" He called out, hearing the young woman giggle on the other end of the line.

"Hey Lee-le." Yunala Cestina replied, sounding quite happy to hear his voice and he could imagine the pale brunette grinning. "It's been a while hasn't it? My apologies for not calling for a while, I was busy with things on my end with the showcase and haven't had a ton of time."

"It's alright, I was actually watching the Kalos performer's showcases when I could here and I definitely see you've been putting your all into being a performer! Congratulations on reaching master class!" He heard the pokemon performer let out an embarrassed laugh.

"Holy hel-You've been keeping up with that? God I-gaaaah!" She sounded like she was burying her face in a pillow and was definitely flustered. "Then you must've seen my falling flat on my face after tripping a month ago during my performance. Arceus smite me now!"

"I don't think they showed that on tv, or if they did I missed that one." He grinned as he heard her shriek into the pillow. "How have you been otherwise Yuna? It's been ages since I heard from you or Celeste, and it's not like you've got a pokegram or monbook like most performers and Celeste's never on her monbook as is."

"How I've been...?" Her voice trailed off and he could hear her sit up on what sounded like a bed. "Fine I suppose." _She didn't sound fine._

"You better not be pushing yourself beyond your limits!" He lightly but playfully scolded her, a serious tone clear despite the teasing way he spoke. "If I find out you've been pushing yourself and not giving yourself any breaks, you bet I'm taking a boat or corviknight to Kalos and making sure you take a break and relax!"

"You? Take a boat to Kalos without any mishaps?" She had a teasing tone now. "No offense but you'd probably get lost and end up in Hoenn or Kanto."

"I'll have you know, Yunala, that my sense of direction has improved since the last time we spoke in person!" He was very proud of the fact he could now go into the wild area and actually end up at Hammerlocke or Motostoke without much difficulty.

"I suppose you'll just need to show me that when I come back to Galar then." She seemed to smile at his stunned silence and giggled. "I'm planning on taking a break sometime soon and coming back to Galar for a hiatus from my performing, still settling on a date but it should be sometime soon. But really, I _am _fine." her voice strained at the end. "I'll catch you up on everything that's happened with me when I'm back in galar, okay? Just wait until then."

"If you say so," He noticed he was reaching postwick and cringed, he was going to need to get off the line but he didn't really want to hang up cause he could clearly tell something was bothering her but she didn't want to say, _there was never enough time to just talk with his old friends._ "I need to get off the line, but if anything is bothering you or if you just need to talk, _please _call me. I've known you long enough to know despite your words you _aren't _fine and you can't fool me, I don't know what's made you so hesitant to tell me what's wrong, but no matter what it is, _I'm here for you_." He may be dense at times and have his moments of idiocy,_but stupid when it concerned his four best friends he was not._

"...Thank you." Her voice was strained even more and she sounded like she was going to cry, but she seemed to be holding herself together for his sake. "I'll, I'll do my best to tell you but, in person. I can't- not like this. I'll see you soon Lee-le." She ended the call, and he frowned as he put his phone away, getting ready to leave the taxi seat.

Miles away in a Kalos hotel, Yuna covered her mouth after setting down her phone and let out a silent sob, the markings recently emblazed all over her body still stinging her to her very soul which felt like she was missing part of it even now. Her flygon nuzzled her shoulder and her dragonair pressed it's head against her own in comfort.

_How was she supposed to explain any of __**this **__to Leon…_

* * *

Raihan booked it from his gym to the Hammerlocke airport, weaving around people in his haste as he ran. Okay, maybe he was a little too excited and probably should've taken a taxi to it, but he couldn't help it.

The champion of Alola, the very first and undefeated one no less, was arriving in Galar today and he'd be absolutely lying if he said he wasn't both wanting to meet her and challenge her to a battle. Plus there were rumors she was half pokemon and had a daughter apparently and, just a fair few rumors regarding her and her Greninja partner that while other regions would've scorned, those in Galar like Raihan were open-minded towards and had him eager to meet her.

He skid around a corner, dodging around a girl with long blond hair in a thick and low braid as well as a girl with pale blue hair up in a braided bun, shouting out a "Sorry!" when he heard one of them yelp in fright, but still didn't stop running.

By the time he reached the airport, he was gasping for air and had to take a moment to catch his breath before he walked in. His eyes immediately began scanning the airport, trying to find the alolan woman. She would definitely stand out as she was really tall, though shorter than him, and-

_There she was!_ A young girl in one arm while her other hand dragged her luggage behind her and clearly just leaving luggage pick up was Megan Lucarina. She looked about the same as she did in the last match of the alola league that aired a couple of months ago, short reddish-brown hair in a slightly mess style, moderate blue eyes framed by thin-rimmed glasses. She wore a different outfit from the one dress she wore in the league. Blue halter top, denim jeans and grey boots, she had a belt around her waist with six pokeballs on it, two masterballs on a necklace around her neck and a breeder backpack completed her look.

"Hey there!" She about jumped at the sound of his voice and her head jolted around at his shout as he ran over. "Sorry about startling you Megan, just wanted to welcome you to Galar!"

"Ah, you're, Raihan of the dragon gym right?" She tilted her head at him, eyes scanning his features before she smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, you already know my name it seems?"

"Just about everyone here does! Or, well, at least the gym leaders." Raihan grinned at her, noticing her look of shock that appeared. "You're like a legend at least when it comes to being unbeatable, is it true you're half pokemon?"

"Well, not every day I get asked that without getting a grossed out look." She laughed, grinning a tad. "See for yourself." She brought a hand up and fiddled with her hair before flicking her head to the side. When she did, previously hidden aura sensors flopped out and rested atop her hair.

If Raihan's eyes got any wider and amazed he'd probably have stars in them. "That's so cool!" His rotom phone came out and started taking pictures almost on instinct, which made her giggle.

"Hi Rotom." She smiled at the phone and waved. "I've probably got your cousin in my bag." Of course, she was referring to her rotom dex, which flew out of the outer pocket of her bag with a buzz and she regarded with amusement. "Oh good grief, I even slightly mention you and you come out like I screeched your name."

As the two Rotoms chirped and buzzed at each other, Raihan's still taking pictures whenever it got a good angle, she returned her attention to Raihan. "I admit I'm a bit surprised you're not looking at me with disgust. Are things different here regarding those such as myself? I've never been here so I don't know."

"Oh yeah, definitely different here!" He grinned at her again. "I don't know about the other regions, but here hybrids and people attracted to pokemon aren't treated any differently except in medical ways for hybrids."

"That's a welcome relief." Her posture relaxed the slightest bit. "Then my daughter won't need to wear a hoodie while we're here then."

Raihan shifted his gaze to the young girl she was holding with her arm, he couldn't see anything that showed she was a hybrid, but she was also wearing a long-sleeved shirt, arms and hands behind her mother's back, and long skirt that hid her feet and most of her head was hidden in Megan's neck. "Is she..?"

"Eyup, technically more so on the pokemon side and a lot harder to hide than myself due to her father." She then turned her gaze to the girl. "Hey, Diancye, sweetheart wake up, we've arrived in Galar."

The girl shifted, grumbling slightly as she yawned and leaned back, rubbing at her eye with a hand as the meaning of Megan's words showed. She didn't have normal ears, she had what looked like yellow squares or triangles of sorts for ears sticking out of her brown and blue hair which looked very sleek, her hands were webbed with yellow membrane. If there were more physical signs of her being a hybrid they were likely covered up by her outfit.

"Mornin'.." Diancye as he heard her called yawned, blinking her eyes open to reveal they were a pinkish red, and her pupils were a light grey. She turned to where her mom was looking and squinted at Raihan. "Rai-rai…?" An innocent and excited smile grew as she repeated with more lucidity than before. "Rai-rai!"

Megan flushed in embarrassment as Raihan's grin grew, _this kid was bloody adorable_ and his Rotom phone didn't hesitate to take photos of the little girl after getting an embarrassed nod from her mother.

"She, she often watches tv when I'm cooking and she's caught the Galar league a few times, her favorite matches are ones with you." Megan sputtered, attempted to explain her child's sudden glee as the girl suddenly squirmed out of her mother's arms and landed in a crouched position that reminded him of Greninijas before she stood up straight and about bolted over to him.

"Rai-rai!" She jumped up and down, the absolute excitement on her face melting his heart as she squeaked in clear pokespeak. "Gren ninnin ni ninia!"

"She said, um, she's excited to meet you?" It took a moment for her to translate her daughter's words and Megan furrowed her brows. "That's the general idea of her words, she doesn't speak in clear sentences yet in pokespeak or English."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you too Diancye!" He beamed as he knelt down, putting his hand on her head and gently ruffling her hair as she giggled happily. "If it's okay with your mom, I'll give you two a tour of Hammerlocke if that's alright?" He looked at Megan who gaped at him as he stood back up before shaking her head.

"That's fine with me. I don't know my way around so it'd be helpful, plus it'd make her day." Megan nodded, giggling as Diancye jumped up and cheered joyfully before spinning and turning to Megan, tugging on her mom's shirt. "Yes dear?"

"Mama!" She smiled up at her mom, a hand tugging on her pokeball belt. "Pi, pi-Piper please?"

"Okay, okay." She laughed as she plucked a normal pokeball from her belt. "Just don't pull her tail please. She's not that old but she doesn't like that."

With that, she released the pokemon which was revealed to be a mature looking litten with a Dragonium Z in a bracelet on her tail and an everstone on the collar she wore. Diancye grinned before swiftly picking the cat pokemon up and cuddling her to her chest.

To Piper's credit, the litten merely sighed before purring and nuzzling Diancye's cheek, a sight that Raihan's Rotom took pictures of before Raihan turned to Megan and grinned once more. "Follow me you three."


End file.
